Say It Now
by acweasley
Summary: Angelina Johnson has always been a part of the Weasley twins' group. Now, in her 6th year at Hogwarts, things begin to change. Will she be able to figure out what she wants before it's too late? Her path from Fred's Yule Ball date to George's wife :-
1. Chapter 1 A new year

**Hey Everyone. This is my first time writing something that is longer than just a few pages. I would really appriciate any feed back to help me as I keep working.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter :-(**

The Great Hall was buzzing with excitement. It was going to be the first time in years that the Triwizard tournament was going to take place, and it was actually being hosted by Hogwarts. The students were running up and down the tables, animatedly discussing the details with friends of all ages and houses, eager to find out everything possible. Professor McGonagall was standing before the tables, her lips pressed in a pencil thin line, having unwillingly accepted that there was no way for her to quiet the students throughout the sorting ceremony. Angelina couldn't help but laugh at the spectacle. Not that she wasn't excited about the upcoming year, because she certainly was, but these kids, especially the boys, were acting ridiculous. Half of the information they were going to get was wrong, and they would be hearing the actual story in about 10 minutes after the sorting was done and Dumbledore spoke.

As the last poor, trembling first year was escorted to the table of cheering Ravenclaws, Dumbledore stood to give his annual welcome speech. As she stared fixatedly at the amazing, if slightly insane, old man at the front of the room she couldn't help but hear the whispers of the surrounding students.

"Only one of us can be the Hogwarts champion, you both do realize that right?"

"Why is that? We are a package deal, isn't that right Freddie?"

"Exactly! Plus, since we both only have half a brain they will have to take us together."

Angelina couldn't help but laugh a bit at that. Although she was really trying to pay attention, those three boys always seemed to be distracting her. That was the problem with being best friends with the biggest troublemakers to grace the walls of Hogwarts since the "Maunderers", the group that the boys idolized like they were gods even though none of them knew who they actually were. It was right at that moment that Dumbledore uttered the most heartbreaking words that the majority of the school had ever heard.

"Due to the dangerous situations you will all be put in, the student must be of age in order to submit their name."

At this Angelina's quiet chuckle burst into full on hysterical laughing. Of course her laugh was covered by the cries of outrage throughout the hall, especially from the boys sitting directly next to her. She was lucky enough to have turned 17 just before returning to school, so she could still enter. However, being the oldest in her year, all of her friends didn't have the same luck. Her eyes started to tear up from laughing as she saw her group of best friends all staring at the front of the hall in absolute horror.

After slightly calming the students, Dumbledore finished his speech with the typical information about objects that were not allowed and a reminder that the Forbidden Forest was named thus for a reason, throwing a conspicuous look over at the middle of the Gryffindor table. It was easy to see the amusement behind his moon-shaped spectacles as he gave the boys a warning look. At that, the food appeared on the tables and the feast began.

For the first time since the beginning of the sorting Angelina allowed herself to turn her attention to the three boys sitting around her. They had dominated her life at Hogwarts since day one. They were loud, obnoxious, intelligent, and hands down the most amusing people probably to ever enter the doors of the school. Lee Jordan and the Weasley Twins were already famous within the walls of Hogwarts. Fred was undoubtedly the leader. His brother George had always been right next to him, his other half and the finisher of all of his sentences and ideas. Lee was their best friend, though it was obvious that he was often left slightly out of the loop. That has to be expected when two people are as close as the twins. Their own mother could hardly tell them apart. Sometimes Angelina didn't think even they could tell themselves apart.

She was able tell the difference between them, though. Not by looks of course. They were identical down to the last freckle and strand of bright red hair. No the difference was in their personalities. It was hard to notice due to how rare it was to find them apart, but she had seen deep down into both of them over the course of the past 5 years. Fred was funnier. George was hilarious as well, but Fred would do anything for a laugh, even hurt someone he loved. George was gentler, though more impressionable as well. Fred was more charismatic, George was more intelligent. Most people didn't see this though because they saw them as one entity. What was the point in working to see the difference between them when they were never apart anyways?

At one point during the feast George worked his way to sit next to Angelina, throwing his arm around her shoulders with a familiarity that only comes with years of friendship. Glancing down at her, he grinned and said, "So, my beautiful friend, how's about you put my name in the Goblet."

"Like hell I will," Angelina responded quickly, shooting an equally charming grin back at him. She couldn't help but feel her heart speed up a bit. This feeling had become increasingly more common over the past few years of being around George. She hadn't told anyone, not even Katie. Of course, if she had said anything to her she would have laughed and asked how in the world she could fancy one of them and not the other as well when they were the same person. But as sarcastic and sometimes harsh as Angelina was she knew she needed someone who had a slightly kinder continence while still being capable of keeping up with her wit. Both Fred and George would challenge her, but Fred's brutal personality would push her over the edge while George would keep her just balancing on the edge where she liked to be.

The boys, Angelina, and Katie dragged their feet as they made their way to the common room for the first time that year.

"Can you believe what complete bollocks this is?" Fred mused as he glanced furiously between his four friends.

"I don't know. It sounds kind of reasonable to me," Angelina smirked as she passed a sidelong glance at her friends. She knew it had to be killing all four of them that she would be the only one able to enter her name. Maybe she should have felt bad about it, but it was a tradition in their group to try to set all the others off, and she knew nothing would do it like this new rule.

"You don't get a vote in this. You are already 17. We are just going to have to find some way around this," Fred declared, grinning devilishly at his twin.

A few seconds passed with the four students desperately thinking and Angelina shaking her head before Fred and George shared the all too familiar looks that said they were sharing a silent conversation. "Aging Potion," The two boys declared in unison.

Angelina rolled her eyes, shocked that she was again to be the only voice of reason in the world of the Weasley twins. No one else was mental enough to tell them their plan was bollocks once they were scheming seeing as that typically made them turn on the speaker. "There is no way that something that simple is going to get past Dumbledore. Sorry mates."

Unsurprisingly, the twins just laughed her comment off. "Of course it will," Fred stated confidently.

"Dumbledore won't be expecting something so simple," George explained upon seeing the skeptical faces of his friends.

"Making us the most brilliant…"

"Or simplest two people at Hogwarts," George rationalized while finishing his twins thought with the same look of mischief in his eyes.

At this point the group was just making its way through the portrait hole of the Gryffindor common room. They could see the last stragglers making their way up the winding staircases to the comfortable beds they would inhabit for the entire year. Most people passed out the second they were released from the Great Hall. Angelina and her friends, however, liked to take a few hours to get reacquainted and hear the general plans for mischief that would be occurring due to the twins' constant and incredible schemes. One great advantage to being friends with the twins was avoiding most of their pranks. That is, unless they are getting her back for something as the case has often been. The more she thought about it, the more she decided that if anyone could find a way past the age barrier it would be Fred and George.

Over the course of the next hour the five friends talked about everything. They discussed how it sucked that there wasn't going to be Quidditch because of the Triwizard Tournament. They talked about their summers and how, as much fun as it was, they all agreed if they had spent one more week they would have lost it. A vast majority of the conversation seemed to be filled with bragging by the twins since they were the ones who got to go to the Quidditch World Cup. Finally, after all of them were exhausted, Fred decided to be the one to break up the reunion.

"Well mates this has been wonderful but you all aren't entertaining enough to keep me from the bed waiting for me upstairs," Fred teased as he stood and stretched. The rest of the group took that to mean that they were all going to bed. Angelina and Katie worked their way sluggishly up the staircase and to their dorm. Their roommates were already fast asleep, as was the vast majority of the castle. As they went to get ready for bed Angelina realized she left her wand downstairs.

"Bollocks, I forgot my wand. I'll be back," Angelina whispered to Katie as she tiptoed across the room. As she left she heard her best friend mutter, "You are a bloody witch. How do you forget your wand?"

Laughing at Katie's reaction, Angelina skipped down the stairs into what she presumed to be an empty common room. As she ran over to large comfortable chairs by the fire that they so often occupied she realized there was someone still sitting in one. He had the trademark fire red hair and freckles that always stopped her in her tracks.

"So much for bed, huh?" Angelina questioned the twin, still unaware until conversation started which one it was.

"Hah, yea Ange. Kinda sad right? I am going to die tomorrow in class if I can't get some bloody sleep tonight."

Angelina's heart skipped as she realized exactly which twin it was. She wouldn't let anyone else get away with calling her Ange, and Fred had learned that the hard way during second year. "Yea, George. And if you aren't awake to take notes Merlin knows there is no way that Fred will pass any of his classes this year," Angelina joked as she sat down opposite him.

"I still don't understand how you can tell the difference between the two of us." George said while throwing her a look of awe.

"Well I can't sometimes," Angelina explained while blushing under his glaze. "I just realize that you have different aspects of your personality. If everyone knew you too as well as I do they would be able to tell from talking to you too."

"But then people would have to talk to us," replied George with the trademark hint of humor in his eyes.

"Exactly why no one else can see the difference. You won't find anyone else that will put up with you. I just hope you realize that," she shot back, continuing their normal banter.

At this George leaned forward and looked her strait in the eye, causing her blush even harder. Making Angelina Johnson blush was no small feat. As a member of the Quidditch team she had build up a reputation as a hardarse. If she hadn't then the boys would not take her as serious as a player, even though she was undoubtedly one of the best players on the team. She was not willing to lose the reputation over any stupid git. She could only pray that the darkness of the room would make him unable to see. "Well, Ange, not everyone is as patient as you are. Or maybe there is another reason why you put up with us so much."

This made Angelina jump up from her seat, not willing to have George see her face after that comment. "Nope, I'm just wonderful like that," she stammered as she looked for a way to get out of the conversation. "Oh well, I just came down to grab my wand. Forgot it before. Strange, right? Well goodnight George. See you tomorrow." Grabbing her wand, Angelina made a mad dash for the staircase that lead to the girls' dorms.

"'Night Ange," she could hear George laughing as she ran up the stairs. So much for playing it smooth.


	2. Chapter 2 The emperor's new hair?

The year was passing relatively normally, apart from the disruption that came from having two visiting schools being hosted at Hogwarts. Angelina was pretty happy, just as long as that stupid veela stayed away from George, which ended up not being a problem at all. Everything had been going great. The year was incredibly exciting. The twins and Lee were always working up some way to get into trouble even with the distraction of the tournament. McGonagall was not about to let them make the school look bad in front of the French and Bulgarian visitors.

The only thing putting a damper on her year was how Harry was being treated. After knowing and playing with him for three years she knew he did not want any of this attention. A lot of the people who decided to play Quidditch at school did it for the glory. Harry did it because it honestly loved it more than anything. She knew how uncomfortable he could get after the games when the entire Gryffindor house would swarm him to give him thanks and congratulations. She just hoped that he wouldn't let the people get to him this year. He needed to focus; she wouldn't have time to train a new seeker if something were to happen to him once she is named Gryffindor's Quidditch captain next year.

She was sitting in the Great Hall having breakfast when she felt people plop down on either side of her. She glanced to either side to see two pairs of very excited eyes staring back at her.

"Merlin, guys. What did you do?" She asked the twins with a sense of dread building in her.

"Why is it that you always jump to that conclusion?" One responded with a sad expression on his still mischievous features.

"Have we not been good, loyal friends for these past years?" stated the other, now making large, sad puppy dog eyes at her.

"Yes, fabulous friends. Now what did you do?" Angelina regarded them with a raised eyebrow as they held on to their obviously false innocent expressions.

"Why do you look so nervous, Angelina?" Katie had adopted a guarded expression on her face as she sat down across from the three, probably the same look that graced Angelina's face.

"These two dolts did something and won't tell me what it is, which generally means their prank is going to be on one of the two of us."

"Bollocks, if you do anything to me today I will make you suffer so much they will be scared to even put me into Azkaban."

"Well, Katie, it is obvious that you do not appreciate our abilities," said a hurt looking George.

"Making me think we should show her exactly what our abilities are. What do you think George?"

"That is an excellent point my good brother. If only she knew what we were capable of she would never dare to threaten us thus."

"Alas, we must fix her faulty opinions."

Angelina rolled her eyes at the typical antics of the boys. "Mates, take a look at her right now. Are you sure you want to challenge her today?"

"You are right, Angelina. Womanly problems should put her off limits today. Should I ask around for a potion to relieve you symptoms, dear Katie?"

That was exactly what Katie needed to push her over the edge. "FRED WEASLEY I AM GOING TO HEX YOU SO…"

"Whoa, if you are going to hex me at least get my name right!" responded the twin.

"Wait, you are George?"

As much as Angelina loved laughing at her friends arguing, she did not feel like having one best friend killed and the other in Azkaban. "No, Katie, he is Fred. Don't listen to him and don't hex him."

"Damn it Angelina. You aren't allowed to use that. It is our main tactic for getting out of trouble," Fred explained as he pouted about not getting away with his favorite mind trick.

"I warned you not to mess with her. And maybe you should try coming up with something more clever than the 'I'm not Fred! I'm George!' trick. Don't you think it is a little played out?"

She was excited when she heard George laughing from her comment on her other side. "Angelina, nothing will ever stop him from using that trick."

The rest of the morning of the morning passed with no general problems, which surprised Angelina after what the twins had acted like earlier. Right before lunch Angelina had Professor McGonagall's class with the twins. Lee wasn't in the class, and as Katie was a year younger so it was only the three of them together. Sitting in the class, Angelina let her mind wander. McGonagall was reviewing something from 5th year, and she had always been pretty good at Transfiguration.

She couldn't help but picture herself out of the Quidditch pitch, a place she was missing more and more as the year progressed. Pretty soon she was joined in her day dream by a certain redheaded boy. She began racing around the pitch with George and just as he caught her and pulled her onto his own broom…

"I am sorry to interrupt your daydream, Miss Johnson, but I was wondering if you were planning on rejoining the rest of the class at any point today," demanded a very stern looking Professor McGonagall.

"Sorry Professor. I didn't sleep very well last night," Angelina answered as a partial excuse.

Without responding, McGonagall shot her some last hard look before returning to the front of the class. She glanced next to her at the twins to see them both smirking at her. It was usually them who were getting lectured by the professors. Angelina wasn't the best student in the world, but since she was always compared to the twins she came off as an angel.

"Shut up."

"We didn't say anything, Ange."

"In fact, neither did you."

"Which is a dangerous thing to do when McGonagall asks you a question."

Angelina tried her hardest to ignore them for the rest of the class. She would swear those two could go on for hours. It didn't even matter if anyone was really listening to what they had to say. She was relieved when McGonagall finally told them class was finished. She felt abnormally skittish for some reason and just needed to be done with class. Now that Transfiguration was over she had lunch and two free periods to relax.

Finishing up lunch, Angelina decided that she was probably so high strung because she hadn't been flying in weeks. She was used to flying almost every day, but without Quidditch practice she was not flying nearly enough for her.

"Well, I am going to get some flying in on the next few free periods. Anyone in?" Angelina asked the twins and Katie as she jumped up from the table.

"Sorry, Angelina, but unlike you three I don't have free period." Katie was pouting as she waited to see how many of her friends were going to be out on their brooms while she was cooped up in the classroom.

"I could use an afternoon of flying. What about you Georgie?"

Angelina waited for George's response. It wasn't like flying with him was anything new; she had been doing it for years, but she still was hoping he would come.

"Nope. I am actually going to do some work," George replied, making all three of them laugh.

"So you will be ready in a few minutes?" Angelina joked with him.

"No mates. I actually need to do some catch up."

"Well have fun with that brother. We are going to actually have some fun. Just think of us while you are sitting in the library. Well beautiful, it looks like it is going to be just you and me then," Fred said to her, throwing his arm around her shoulders and giving her a suggestive wink.

Angelina's heart sunk as she realized that he was actually serious. Not that she minded just hanging out with Fred; she just really wanted George to come too. Brushing Fred's arm off her shoulders, Angelina turned to George in one last attempt to get him to come. "Are you really going to leave me with him?"

"Sorry Ange," he replied laughing. "I promise to go flying with you soon to make up for it okay?"

At that thought her heart leapt. She had never gone flying with just him. It had always been a few from the team or even Lee on occasion. "Fine, but I am going to hold you to that promise."

Once she had changed into more appropriate flying robes she met Fred down by the pitch. He was already there, on his broom and flying laps. She quickly mounted and flew up to his level. "So, Freddie boy, you ready to be beaten by a girl yet again?"

"Haha. You've only beaten me a few times."

"If by few times you mean every time then sure," she replied. He had made a few comments when they first started on the team together about how girls couldn't fly like boys could that she never forgot. Of course, years of playing on the Gryffindor Quidditch team with tons of amazing girl fliers had fixed him of that. She always made sure to rub it in his face that she was a better flier than he was, a fact that anyone who had watched a game would agree with.

The two continued with their banter and flying for a few hours before both were exhausted. Angelina was surprised by how much fun she had had with Fred just the two of them. She had spent a decent amount of time with just George somehow, probably because she sought him out, but had never really given spending time with just Fred too much thought. She realized now just what a fun guy he was.

"This was surprisingly fun," she told him as they made their way back to the castle.

"Surprisingly? What's up with that? We have been friends for almost 6 years," Fred responded only half joking. "I was under the impression that people always had fun when I was around."

Angelina felt a little bad. She could tell from Fred's reaction that he was a little hurt by her comment. This wasn't the first time that someone had taken a comment she made that was meant in a nice way to be upsetting. Actually, it happened more to her than anyone else she knew. Things just came out wrong.

"You know that isn't how I meant it, Fred," Angelina said as she tried to cover her tracks. "I just meant that we haven't hung out a lot just the two of us and that I had a really great time."

"Yeah, yeah. I know what you meant."

Laughing, Angelina left Fred down in the common room to run up stairs and shower before dinner. After showering and getting ready Angelina headed back down to the common room to find everyone. When she got down there the twins and Lee were playing a game of Exploding Snap. Throwing herself down next to them, she tried to pull their attention away from the game she wasn't playing. "Do you guys think either one of the Hogwarts champions will win the tournament?"

All three of the boys glanced up at her with an expression saying that they knew what she was trying to do and that they would not be distracted from their game, yet once they saw her their expressions changed to one filled with laughter. She immediately sat forward and glared at all three of them. She knew that expression only meant one thing.

"What the bloody hell did you all do to me?"

"I don't know what you are talking about Angelina," Lee said, probably the worst liar out of the three. He didn't have partner in crime at home like the twins did.

"We haven't done anything to you," Fred said.

"You look absolutely lovely," George chimed in.

"First of all, now I know you did something to my appearance. Secondly, you are a liar! What did you little prats do to me?"

Seeing that none of the boys were going to give her anything, Angelina ran back up the staircase to her dorm. She sat in front of the mirror for what felt like hours examining every part of her but couldn't find anything out of the ordinary. Still unsatisfied but realizing she needed dinner, Angelina went down stairs to join the rest of her friends. As she made her way to the Great Hall she heard someone calling out her name. Turning around, she saw Katie running towards her with a look of horror and amusement plastered on her face.

"What is it?" Angelina asked her best friend. "I know they did something to me but when I went up stairs to look everything was normal. Merlin, I hate it when those boys turn their pranks on me."

"Normal, Angelina?" Katie said, now hysterically laughing. "All of your hair is bright purple and you think that is normal?"

"FRED AND GEORGE WEASLEY I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!!!"


	3. Chapter 3 Of balls and boys

"I still can't believe you all got me. I had survived all year."

"You must admit it was brilliant."

"Bloody brilliant!"

Angelina, George, and Fred were making their way down to the dungeon for Potions class. They were still discussing the twins latest and most inventive prank, choosing Angelina as their unwilling test subject. A few weeks before Angelina had been the recipient of the very first batch of Weasley's Invisible Dye, a product that will dye someone's hair whatever color but appears invisible to the person who has used it, explaining why Angelina thought her appearance was perfectly normal. While at the time she had been furious, releasing the feared Johnson temper on them, now she was able to truly appreciate the genius of the prank. "I still don't understand how you come up with these things," Angelina mused while trying to figure out the twins' secrets.

"Well if only everyone's mind worked the way ours did," Fred explained

"Then the world would much more…" George began to say

"Horrific?" Angelina finished for her friends.

"We were thinking more…entertaining." Fred replied

"I'm still shocked that Zonko's didn't think of it first," Angelina said, turning slightly to gauge her friends' reaction to that statement.

"Zonko's bloody well couldn't have come up with something this brilliant," A very insulted Fred said.

"Plus the Zonko's creators don't have a bothersome Muggle born who likes to hear herself talk constantly," George added in.

"Is it safe to assume you two are talking about talking about Hermione?"

"Of course, that girl can sure as hell talk. But she also gave us the idea for this prank so I guess we should be too hard on her, right Fred. Or maybe we should try it out on her to show just how much she has inspired us."

"I don't think we should go down that path again. Remember the last time we used her as a test subject? I swear her temper is worse than Ginny's. I guess we can give her a break, though, if Weasley's Invisible Dye becomes as popular as we think it will. She just kept prattling on about some Muggle story about some King that was tricked into thinking he was wearing clothes when he was really bloody naked," Fred explained to Angelina. "What was it called again?"

"The Emperor's New Clothes. I had a good friend growing up who was a Muggle. My Mum's best friend was Muggle born so I played with her family's kids a ton," Angelina told the boys at their quizzical look at her knowledge of Muggle fairytales. "I still don't understand how you got the invisible dye from that though. He thought he was wearing clothes when he really wasn't. The dye keeps the poor person who it is used on from seeing that their hair is BRIGHT PURPLE."

"Oh Angelina," Fred regarded his friend with pity. "How closed your mind is."

"Such a shame really," George continued, easily catching on to his twins tone. "She always showed such promise."

"Yet here we are yet again."

"Having to explain the brilliant reasoning into her incredibly small mind."

"Yea, yea I get it you gits. Now explain."

"Well, first of all, we weren't actually listening to Hermione talk.."

"Which is actually very typical."

"But we did hear bits and pieces."

"Streaming together that her thought he was clothed when really he was prancing around displaying his willy to his entire kingdom."

"So we figured why not make someone think they looked one way while they appeared differently to the rest of the world."

"Hair seemed the easiest."

"And thus the Weasley's Invisible Dye was born," The twins finished in unison.

"That actually is a pretty brilliant line of thought," Angelina said.

"Why is she always so surprised?" Fred asked his twin.

Laughing off that comment, Angelina and George forced their attention back to the front of the classroom, forcing Fred to do the same. The rest of the class went off without a hitch, something that is incredibly strange due to the fact that there was no one in the world that the twins enjoyed messing with more than Professor Snape, except for possibly Ron. After the class finished Angelina broke off from the boys to meet Katie in the common room. As she made her way back to Gryffindor tower she reflected on how her relationship with both of the boys had changed over the past month.

After their afternoon of flying together Angelina had decided to be a little easier on Fred. She had always given him a hard time and let his brother off for things she would have hexed him for in a second. She was surprised by how close they had gotten. She felt more comfortable talking to him than anyone else she knew, even Katie. He was as easy to hold a conversation as George, but she didn't get all nervous about what she had to say around him because it was just talk between friends. She had been spending more time alone with Fred then probably with George and Lee put together.

Angelina was just happy to have a guy that she could talk to without the drama of a relationship clogging it. She had never really done well the girls. She wasn't necessarily a tomboy, but she couldn't deal with the stupid drama that surrounded a vast majority of the girls at Hogwarts. That's the reason that she bonded so quickly with Katie, even though she was a year below her. They became best friends during her third year, Katie's second, when Katie had joined the Quidditch team. Up until that point she had really only hung out with the twins. The girls in her year were about as ridiculous as they seemed to be in Harry's year, at least from what she heard from Hermione during her rants.

As she reached the Fat Lady a few of said girls came rushing out of the portrait hole, chatting animatedly about something that Angelina was sure she would not have any real interest in. Probably some new gossip about who Cedric Diggory was dating today. Crawling through the hole, she saw her best friend sitting with a group of girls, of all different years, including the little Weasley and Alicia Spinnet. Katie always tried to include her in the schemes that Angelina and her friends created, but she just didn't seem to mesh well with the whole dynamic.

Surprised by the group of people that had gravitated together, Angelina made her way over to see what the commotion was about. Every person in the circle had the same look on their face as the giggling girls who had rushed out of the common room before. 'Well,' Angelina thought, 'It isn't something about Diggory then. Katie wouldn't get that look over a prat like him.'

"Why the bloody hell is every girl running around looking like the Nymph Chasers are coming to personally serenade them?" Angelina asked Katie as she threw herself down among the group of girls.

"Because they kind of are," Katie responded without even throwing her friend a second glance.

"What?!"

"Hah, now you aren't so judgmental are you?"

"You can't just say that and then not explain," Angelina told Katie as she forced her friend to face her and explain what exactly she was talking about.

"It turns out that there is more to the Triwizard Tournament than just, well, the tournament. We also have the Yule Ball."

"Meaning…"

"That on Christmas Eve we are having a dance to celebrate the 'magical friendships that are being formed during this wonderful time'"

"So there is going to be a dance. Like with actual dancing and dates and such."

"Wow, Angelina, your powers of deduction continue to amaze me. So do you know anyone who might be planning on asking you?"

"I don't have a clue. What if no one asks me?"

"Sod off, if nothing else you have Fred in the palm of your hand. You have nothing to worry about when it comes to a date. I just didn't know if there was someone else you fancied," Katie told Angelina while blowing off the conversation and jumping up to head down to dinner.

"Wait…what? Fred does not fancy me. We are just friends. Everyone knows that. Plus I was thinking that maybe someone else fancied me, you know, that would keep him from feeling that way too," Angelina said while feeling a little embarrassed. Luckily, most of the common room had already headed down to get food, so there wasn't anyone to over hear what she was saying.

"Sorry, Angelina, but I am pretty sure that all the comments that Lee makes during the matches are just for laughs. Even though, if you fancy him he wouldn't complain. You are much prettier than he is," Katie said, laughing at the strangeness of Angelina's behavior.

"The thing is, I didn't really mean Lee."

Katie stopped short just before the portrait hall. She seemed to have finally realized that Angelina wasn't joking about this. She had her back to Angelina when she made that comment, then slowly turned to face her best friend, a look of complete shock on her face. "The only other person that would have any impact on Fred what so ever, if you actually meant what you said, is…" Katie's sentence trailed off as she continued to stare at Angelina, her expression shifting from shock to accusation.

"Yea I know."

"But. Fred. George? Really? Since when? Fred already likes you. What's the difference?" Katie was much more shocked than Angelina had expected, though she did suppose that her thinking there was something between her and Fred would create that sort of reaction.

"Well I realized during third year, but I think it has been for a lot longer. I am surprised you didn't figure it out before. That's why I am so great at telling the difference between them. It started out as me being their best friend as 11 year olds and not liking that they could pull the switch on me, but I figured them out by winter break first year. I realized in third year that he was always the first person I turned to if a made a joke or anything to see his reaction and by the end of third year I knew that I actually fancied him."

"Then why the bloody hell do you spend so much time with Fred? That isn't the best way to show his twin that you want to snog him."

"Well now I realize that. Thank you. It was just so easy to talk to him. I have so much fun with him and don't have to worry about being nervous like I do around George."

"Why don't you just go for Fred. They are practically the same person and we all know he fancies you!"

"Because I know they aren't the same person and I don't want to settle for Fred just because I don't have George. That doesn't seem very practical does it? If anything were to happen between us and things became serious I would have to spend all that time around George knowing I didn't give him the chance. Plus, I think he might fancy me too."

"Really? Well whatever the case I can tell you that if you don't spend some one on one time with George soon then Fred is going to have dibs on you and even if George wanted to he wouldn't be able to make a move."

At Katie's explanation Angelina saw the problem she was faced with. If Fred talked to George about fancing Angelina he would never make a move. No matter how much either one of them cared for a girl their brother would always come first. And if Fred spoke first George wouldn't say anything, especially if he thought that Angelina fancied Fred too. As the two girls made their way to the Great Hall they discussed ways to get some spare time with George. Angelina actually felt relieved that Katie knew her secret now. It was surprisingly therapeutic to talk about it with another girl.

As they entered the Great Hall the immediately searched the Gryffindor table for the three boys they spent nearly all their time with. Seeing them near the front of the table, they hurried down to them to join in the feast. Angelina slid down next to one of the twins hoping that it was George, still unable to tell just from looks.

"Where have you two been? Dinner started a while ago." Lee asked as Katie sat next to him on the other side of the table.

"We lost track of time talking in the common room," Katie explained, shooting a glance at Angelina. "Did we miss anything important?"

"Only the pleasure of our wonderful company," Fred to the girls, looking pointedly at Angelina. She realized with a sinking heart that she was both sitting next to the wrong twin and that he did look at her the way you don't look at a friend. She had to think of some way of showing that they were just friends without talking to him about it. She didn't do well with confrontation and she doubted that Fred did either.

Dinner continued with the typical witty banter that marked all of their conversations. Angelina was thankful that the topic of the Yule Ball didn't come up. She was afraid that the second the topic was breached Fred would ask her, leaving her no time to show George that he was the one she was interested in. As they walked back to the dorms Angelina shared a look with Katie that clearly said that she wanted her to distract the other two boys so she could talk to George.

"Bollocks. I forgot my bag in the Great Hall. Fred and Lee, come with me. I don't want to go back alone in case I run into that bastard Malfoy and his idiotic friends," Katie said, pulling both boys with them without giving them a chance to protest. Standing with a mixture of shock and gratefulness, Angelina turned to George.

"So, shall we continue on then?" She said with obvious amusement in her voice.

Laughing, George offered her his arm "I wonder why she didn't make us all go back with her?"

"You know Katie's whims. She was standing in between Fred and Lee so she felt only them needed to attend to her needs," Angelina said in an attempt to force away any curiosity George was harboring. They continued the rest of the way to the common room with comfortable conversation. Reaching the common room, Angelina turned to George. "You know, it has been about a month since you promised to go flying with me and have still yet to follow through. I am beginning to think you are not trustworthy in your promises."

"Well then I will have to prove you wrong, won't I?"

"When and where?"

"Tomorrow, free period, on the Quidditch pitch. Unless you are too afraid to fly against me," George told her while trying to hold back a laugh.

"I think I have proven on several occasions that I can handle myself around a pitch."

"This is true. But might I remind you that you have never flown with me one on one. I can be very intimidating."

Angelina could help but laugh at that, even though part of the humor in it for her was that he had no idea just how much he intimidated her. Regardless, she still wanted to spend time with just him. "Sure, just don't try to weasel out of this by bringing your brother to play mind tricks on me. This is going to be just you vs. me to prove once and for all that I am the best."

George's expression remained amused, but Angelina thought she could see something deeper in them as he looked directly into Angelina's eyes and said, "Trust me, I am not going to bring anyone else. Tomorrow you are mine, Miss Johnson."

Angelina was frozen where she stood. She wasn't imagining this. George was explicitly stating that he wanted to spend time with her, just her. Before her mind could catch up to react George was making his way over to the stairway leading to the boys dormitory, leaving her staring at the space he had occupied.

Boy was she in trouble.


	4. Chapter 4 See through me

Eighteen hours later Angelina was in the common room in her flying robes waiting for George. She couldn't help but fidget a bit, trying to make sure that she looked perfect while trying to look like she wasn't trying too hard either. They were just flying after all, and if she wore a lot of make-up or did her hair everyone would be suspicious. She did allow Katie, the girlier of the two, to put on a little bit of discreet make-up and make her ponytail cuter than Angelina's typical mess. Katie was possibly more excited than even she was.

"Okay, so remember what we talked about," Katie said while helping her get ready. "You have to show him that you are interested so that he asks you to the ball while you are flying. It might be the only time that you guys are alone and you know he won't ask you with a bunch of people around."

"I know, Katie. We have been talking about this since you got back from the Great Hall last night. I know what I am doing."

"Of course you do. But remember that Fred has no qualms about asking you to the ball in front of the entire Great Hall."

"I will do my best to get George to ask me. I just don't know how girls do the whole flirting thing. I just want to hang out with him and if he likes me something will happen. I'm not going to change just to get him to ask me to the dance."

"Don't worry about it. You have known him for almost 6 years. He knows what you are like and he still wanted to go 'flying' with you. It will be fine," Katie told her best friend with a quick smile. It was strange to Angelina how quickly Katie switched from lecturing her on how to get the guy to saying everything would be okay. Granted, her second opinion was the only thing keeping Angelina from running back up the girls' staircase now where George couldn't reach her.

As she was waiting the portrait hole flew open to reveal Fred, George, and Lee running in covered in something that Angelina didn't recognize, nor did she expect she wanted to.

"Sorry, Ange! I know I am late but we got caught up in a prank. But we didn't do anything if anyone asks. Those Slytherins looked pretty pissed and we don't want to take credit until our product is perfect. It would be bad for business, you know," George said with a wink as he worked his way through the common room toward the boys' staircase. "I'm just going to run up and change and I will be back down in a minute."

"Feel free to jump in the shower too," Angelina yelled back up the staircase, laughing. "You reek a bit as well."

"What are you guys doing?" Fred asked with an edge of suspicion in his voice.

"Oh, George is making good on his promise to go flying with me. He still holds that he is a better flyer than I am. I have to prove him wrong once and for all."

"Flying sounds like fun. I'll run up a change into my robes real quick, okay?" Fred told her as George came running back down the stairs.

"Actually, Brother," George said, "she has challenged me to a one on one. She thinks that if both of us are there we are going to use some sort of scheme to make it look like we can fly better than she can. We will meet you guys in the Great Hall at dinner time."

Angelina couldn't help but feel a bit of guilt as she and George made their way to the pitch. She knew she hadn't done anything wrong, after all Fred had never specifically told her he fancied her, but she had never seen one of the twins turn down and opportunity to hang out with the other. The guilt, however, quickly faded as she and George fell back into the comfortable conversation that had made her like him so much for years.

"So have you heard about this ball we are having?" George asked Angelina on their way. She couldn't help but break into a huge smile.

"Of course. Every girl residing within Hogwarts is flipping out. It is kind of exciting though. It is the first thing we have ever had like this. I heard Dumbledore used to have events like this all the time before the war with You-Know-Who."

"Yeah, my parents have talked about them. It was actually at one of them that they met for the first time. Granted my mum was some little fourth year and my dad was a cool seventh year as they say. They didn't get together until after Hogwarts. They always wondered why he didn't start up again once the war was over. I guess more to worry about."

"Wow that's interesting. It will be fun," Angelina said trying to pull the conversation to the ball and get an invitation.

"Yeah, I'm looking forward to it," George said, seeming to end the conversation. Angelina wondered why he brought it up in the first place. Was he planning on asking her and just chickened out or was he just making conversation? At least now the topic had been breached he would have it in his mind as they flew and would maybe ask later.

"Ready to go Johnson?" George asked once they had gotten their brooms and made it to the pitch, "Just remember, I'm not going to take it easy on you."

Angelina laughed, "Of course you aren't. I'm not scared, Weasley. Bring it."

At that she shot up, George following close behind, both determined to show off for the other. Angelina was pushing herself harder than ever before, speeding the fastest she had gone. She was surprised by just how great of a flyer George was. As beaters the twins focus more on keeping the big flyers from getting hit more than on actually flying themselves. Their race turned into a sort of chase. Whichever of them was in front, which continuously shifted, would lead the way while the one behind would try to catch up, leaving the pitch behind and heading over all the grounds, through the trees and dodging branches.

Angelina finally gained the lead again right as they were heading back over the pitch. Trying desperately to hang on to the lead, Angelina tried pulling a Wronski Defensive Feint, diving straight towards the ground. She had worked on that move a few times with Harry when she forced him to get out and practice. She sure as hell wasn't going to let her star player go over a year without practicing. To her surprise George followed right along. Getting closer and closer to the ground, Angelina tried to get as close a she could without crashing miserably. Both leveled out at the last second, shooting along about a foot off the ground.

Angelina looked back to see that George was right behind her and decided this should end while she was ahead. "The winner of this lap wins it all," She yelled back to George sending him her best 'you are so screwed' smile.

George sent the same smile right back to her. He inched closer to the lead until the tip of his broom was a little bit past when Angelina was sitting on her broom and then jumped. Before Angelina even knew what was happening George had tackled her off her broom and the two were rolling along the ground, tangled up together. They finally stopped tumbling with George lying partially on top of her.

"That was cheating, you know," Angelina said, though her eyes were sparkling with amusement.

"How about we call it a tie?" George said looking down at her. Angelina's heart stopped as she realized just what position they were in. It was the first time in six years of knowing each other that it seemed neither of them had anything to say, or maybe they just didn't want to say anything. Angelina noticed every tiny detail in his movements. She saw his eyes glance quickly at her lips, and then back up at her eyes. She noticed his smile grow a little shyer as he realized she had noticed him do it. In that second she knew that she wasn't making it up in her head. George liked her too. Right as he moved a little bit closer they heard an all too familiar voice. George's voice broke the spell of the moment, but it wasn't George speaking.

"Well what do we have here?" Fred asked with a smile, though Angelina was sure she saw some hurt behind it. Standing with him were Lee and Katie, both looking surprised and, in Katie's case, slightly repentant.

"Hah, nothing Fred. I just had to cheat so that I wouldn't be beaten by a girl." George said, brushing off the last few minutes like it was a joke. Angelina's heart plummeted. She decided in that second that she had spent too much time on George. He knew how she felt about him. It was clear in everything he did; from the way he teased her to the moments like this one where he froze her with just a glance. If he was going to pretend like this was nothing then she sure as hell would as well.

"Yeah, you're git of a brother decided to tackle me off my broom because I was going to beat him. Kind of sad, huh guys?"

"Very sad," Fred said back, shooting an inquisitive glance between the two before deciding it was either a topic that would cause too much conflict or that there was nothing to worry about. "We figured that you had had enough time to race and that we could have a little two on two. Lee can play goalie. Boys against girls as usual?"

"Sure, why not?" Angelina said, happy for the awkwardness of the moment to pass.

Katie marched over to Angelina and grabbed her by the arm, "I got the keys from McGonagall. Angelina and I will get the quaffle." She continued to pull her away from the group.

Once they were out of sight and ear shot Katie turned on Angelina, "What the bloody hell was that? I would swear you were about to kiss."

"Yea, Katie, I noticed that. But then he pretended like it didn't so I guess that is that."

"Well, of course he acted like that. What was he supposed to say? 'yea mate, I was about to snog Angelina before you little gits showed up'?"

"I just don't know. He even brought up the ball and didn't ask me. But then he acts like he fancies me and, Merlin, I just don't know!"

"Well, we should grab the quaffle before the boys come to look for us. We can talk about this more after dinner."

They got back to the pitch to see all three boys already in the air, Lee trying to get a feel of flying like always. Katie pulled out the quaffle before both girls flew up to meet the twins. "We start with the quaffle," Katie told the twins as she flew to get in position.

"Why is that?" Fred shouted back. "We should have a coin toss or something."

"Did you go get the keys from McGonagall?"

"Well, no."

"Did you go get the actual quaffle?"

"No, but…"

"Then shut up and play or you will already have lost a point. Remember that Angelina and I are trained to score goals, not just hit balls at people's heads," Katie told them as she shot off towards the goal before any of the others had even realized what was happening. All three flew off after her. It had been established for years that Fred would guard Katie and George would guard Angelina. None of them knew how these assignments had been made, but they stuck to it as Fred raced to catch up with Katie and George fell into line next to Angelina. Before Fred could get close Katie had tossed the quaffle right past Lee. Angelina may be the best flyer on the team, but no one in the entire school could get close to Katie when it came to shooting.

The two teams were pretty even in skill level except when it came to shooting. Lee couldn't touch anything Katie sent his way, and usually wasn't able to grab Angelina's either. The twins weren't quite as talented in that area, so Katie and Angelina beat them yet again.

The five teenagers made their way back up to the castle exhausted, sweaty, and absolutely content with the evening of flying. Upon arriving at the Great Hall they all realized just how much time they had spent out on the pitch. The Great Hall was deserted and the food was gone. Angelina groaned as she realized she was going to have to go without dinner. She had just run out of her candy from the last Hogsmeade trip. "Well I guess we will just have to go without. Unless of course you boys have some left over Honeydukes," Angelina said, turning toward the boys and giving them a pointed glance.

"Sorry, Angelina," Lee told her, "But I'm out too. This is bollocks. I knew I should have made you all stop playing but Fred and George were determined they could come back even though they _never_ do."

At that the twins shared a look that only the two of them could understand. After a second Fred heaved a sigh and turned towards the rest of them. "Follow us and we will get you some food," Fred said as she started skulking off. All four followed him without question, though Angelina, Katie, and Lee had no idea what was going on. After a bit they stopped before a still life painting and George reached up and tickled the pear. Angelina looked over at Katie to see if she understood what they were doing but she looked just as confused. The portrait swung forward to reveal a huge kitchen swamped with house elves.

"The kitchens? How long have you known where the kitchens are without telling me? I understand not telling the girls but what the hell?" Lee was fuming at George who couldn't seem to keep from laughing.

"Sorry, mate, but we tried to keep this as secret as possible."

"Wait," Angelina said, turning on Lee. "What do you mean 'I understand not telling the girls'? We are just as much a part of this group as you are!"

"'Course you are Angelina," Fred said trying to cut her off before she really got going. If he didn't it would be hours before they got anything to eat. He led the way through the portrait hole into the kitchens. The second they entered they were surrounded by house elves waiting to do their bidding.

"Masters Fred and George," one of the house elves said. "We are very much happy to see you here."

"Thanks Dobby. These are our friends and we kind of missed dinner. Any way you can hook us up with some food?"

"Oh of course sirs and misses. Dobby will get you food right away. Just stay at this table and you will have all sorts of food."

Angelina, Katie, and Lee just stared at the twins. "What?" both asked at the same time.

"The house elves know you by name?" Katie asked in awe.

"Well we eat a lot," George explained.

"Plus, Dobby was freed by Harry and now worships him like a god. All we had to do was say once that we are like his brothers and we get anything we want," Fred continued.

"One of the many perks of having a brother who is the best mate of the 'boy who lived'"

It took no more than five minutes before the table was over flowing with food worthy of one of the great feasts. All of them agreed that they should 'accidentally' miss dinner more often. Dozens of house elves worked their way around the table, clearing any plates or getting anything else they could want. After hours of eating and much more food than any of them should have had they snuck back to the common room using the twins' extensive knowledge of the secret passageways to avoid Filch or Mrs. Norris.

As Angelina got ready for bed that night, her mind involuntarily flashed back to earlier that evening down on the pitch. Was what Katie said right? Was George blowing off the subject the only way to go about it? She had to admit to herself that if George told them all right there that he fancied her she didn't know what she would have done. The entire situation was just confusing.

The next day went by just as normally as any day in the life of the Weasley twins' best friend can go. Fred and George went the entire first half of the day without pulling any real pranks and only cracking a few jokes with the professors. They would never cease to amaze her with their ability to sweet talk the sternest professors at Hogwarts. She would swear she even saw McGonagall crack the smallest of smiles.

Angelina was walking to the Great Hall for lunch when someone grabbed her arm and pulled her into a deserted classroom.

"What the bloody hell!" Angelina screamed as she tried to fix herself and see who her assailant was. As she straightened up she realized it was only Katie. "Merlin, Katie, you scared me to death. What was that about?"

"I have something I need to talk to you about. Have you heard anything else about the ball and who all is going together yet?"

"No. Why? Have you heard something?"

"I wanted to tell you this before you heard it from someone else. You know how I have Herbology with a few Hufflepuffs?"

"Yeah. What is it Katie? Just spit it out."

"Well, apparently George asked Samantha Wilson to the ball. I just didn't want you to overhear someone say it in the Great Hall with everyone around. I'm so sorry Angelina."

"What? That stupid blonde Hufflepuff who is always making the most ridiculous comments in class?"

"He asked her after breakfast this morning. That was where he disappeared to when we were trying to leave to go to class," Katie told her with a tone of sympathy. But Angelina didn't want sympathy. She was in shock. She knew that there was a chance that George wouldn't ask her but for him to go for a girl like Samantha Wilson? She was everything that Angelina wasn't. She was short and tiny with perfect blonde hair and beautiful pale skin while Angelina was relatively tall with her nearly black hair and dark skin from her African heritage. Angelina hated to admit it, but Samantha was gorgeous. But she was also a complete idiot. George was smart and funny. He would want to murder that girl after an hour. Why did he pick her?

Angelina waited a few minutes in silence before turning to leave the room without another word to Katie. She couldn't have picked a worse time to leave. Right as she opened the door she saw George walking towards her with a determined look on his face. Angelina hadn't had enough time to absorb the news, so her hurt and hatred were painted plainly on her face. Even when she wasn't so upset she could hardly control her emotions.

George ran up and grabbed her arm as she turned away from him in an attempt to escape. "Angelina, I need to talk to you," he said, trying to turn her back towards him.

"Oh well I don't quite feel like talking right now, but thanks anyways," Angelina said back, shooting him the hardest glare she could muster and yanking her arm out of his hand.

"Really? And why would that be?"

"I just have nothing to say to you. I talked to Katie already and understand. I just need a little time to process all of this," Angelina said a little softer, her anger decreasing slightly.

"Well I have something to say to you if you will just listen."

"Can we please do this another time? I don't have the energy for this."

"No."

"Well, too bad. Because I am going to get food now and that's all I want."

"Why the bloody hell won't you talk to me?"

"You know, George, I just really don't want to hear you talk about who you fancy, alright?"

George just froze and starred at her. "You know already?"

"Yeah. Katie got to me first and told me everything."

"How does Katie know?"

"Just overheard people talking about it is all. So you don't have to tell me anything. I will see you later," Angelina said, turning her back on George. She stormed off towards the common room, leaving George stunned and staring after her.


	5. Chapter 5 Sucker for an accent

**Hey guys! Thanks so much to the people who have given me feedback. It is really encouraging. I would love to hear anything else you guys have to say! **

Angelina Johnson was going to be okay.

Granted that didn't mean she wanted anything to do with George Weasley yet, after all she had only had that night to get over the fact that he asked someone else to the ball over her, but she wasn't going to let him ruin the rest of her year. She was still going to go to the ball. She didn't need him to have fun. She was completely fine. Nothing wrong at all.

At least that was what she told Katie while she was trying to get her to cry it out. Angelina wasn't a crier at all. The way she dealt with things was the shove it deep down and hope that she got over it before it came boiling back up. Her outbreak with George the day before was more confrontation that she had had in years. So she would tell herself and anyone else who asked that she was fine and eventually she would believe it.

That morning, Katie and Angelina were finishing up breakfast when Lee came running in to grab something at the last second.

"Where have you been?" Katie said, laughing at her friends attempt to grab something to eat before lessons began for the day.

"I was helping Fred and George with one of their new products and we lost track of time. Actually, we knew just what time it was, but George refused to come downstairs."

Angelina and Katie shared a look that showed were both wondering the same thing. George rarely went without food, even when he was working on a new product.

"Really? And why was that?" Katie asked, trying to seem nonchalant about the whole thing.

"I don't know," Lee said, brushing off the situation. "Something about wanting to get it perfect before lessons began for the day."

Angelina was actually relieved. It would be better to see George for the first time in class where they wouldn't be able to have a long conversation that showed how awkward they were with each other.

The three left the Great Hall together, walking as far as they could before having to break off, Katie towards Transfiguration and Angelina and Lee towards Herbology, the only class that all four sixth years had together. They both took their seats, looking around to see if Fred and George had made it to the class yet. They still hadn't arrived when Professor Sprout began class. About five minutes into the class Fred and George came busting into the room.

"Thank you for joining us," Professor Sprout said upon seeing the twins arriving late yet again.

"We are very sorry, Professor," Fred said. "We ran into some Devil's Snare in the hallway and it wrapped itself right around George before we could get out of its way."

"It's true, Professor," George said, catching on to his brother's excuse. "I barely escaped with my life. If it weren't for your wonderful teaching skills I would have been a goner."

"People should really watch where they leave that stuff around," Fred finished, barely containing his grin.

"Of course, boys. If you are late again I am going to have to deduct points."

"What have you blokes been up to," Angelina asked trying to show George from the start that she wasn't going to be the one to act weird. George looked up at her as she spoke. For a second he just stared at her before he seemed to catch up with the situation.

"Oh, you know. We were just working on perfecting the Ton-Tongue Toffees. I know they are pretty much perfect, but once we start selling them we need them to work every time so our customers won't go to Zonko's instead. They worked fine for Harry's prat of a cousin, but we actually care a bit about our customers."

"I feel as though we can finally say we completed the project," Fred said jumping into the conversation. "Want to try it for us Angelina?"

"Hah, thanks but I think I will be okay. However, if you ever figure out ways to skip out of class I would happily take them off your hands. I really don't feel like listening to Sprout rant about how important ginger is in the Wit-Sharpening potion. Like any of us need that."

"Actually," Fred said. George had seemingly turned his attention back to Professor Sprout. "We are working on a new project that will give you all types of options for skipping out of class. Nosebleeds, puking, anything you want. But we wouldn't test that on you. That wouldn't be very pleasant for you, nor would your retaliation be for us. We are going to start asking first years to do it. They will do anything you want, especially next year when we are the oldest."

"Wow, real sweet George," Angelina said.

"I thought you could tell us apart, Angelina," Fred said with a raised eyebrow.

'Shit' Angelina thought. She had said George without realizing it. Even though she found the twins business very interesting, she was a bit preoccupied this morning. After answering the question that Angelina asked him directly George hadn't even looked over at her once. So they get in one little fight and now they can't even be friends? "I guess I am not as good as I thought," Angelina said to Fred in an attempt to cover her tracks.

That evening Katie and Angelina escaped to an empty classroom to discuss the events of the past few days. Since neither of them were close with the girls they lived with it was easier to just avoid them completely.

"So he avoided even looking at you?"

"Well I can't be sure. He could have just been paying attention to Sprout," Angelina said as a half-hearted explanation to which Katie started cracking up.

"George had never paid attention in Herbology in his entire life until today. Maybe he just feels bad about the whole situation."

"So he avoids me like I'm You-Know-Who himself? He should be trying to make up for it, not being even more of a little prick."

"Do you really want him to act like nothing happened?"

"Yes I do. First of all, if he acts strange people are going to start asking questions and I don't want everyone to know. It is bad enough that you know. And I don't want to lose one of my best friends. I know it's sad but I would rather have him in my life as a friend than not have him at all."

Katie looked at her with so much sympathy that it made Angelina want to puke. At least she wouldn't have to buy any of the Weasley products to get out of class. She just needed Katie to follow her to each class and give her that look. She would be sent to Madame Pomfrey in a second. The worst part was that Angelina knew every time she saw both Katie and George at the same time from now on she would be given that look. As relieved as she was at the beginning with Katie knowing, now all she wanted was for everything to go back to normal.

"What are you going to do if Fred asks you to the ball?"

"Merlin, I don't know. It would awkward if I said no I guess. Plus I doubt anyone else will ask me. I guess it would be too pathetic to go by myself huh?"

"Why? I doubt anyone is going to ask me. The only people I talk to are your four and that doesn't leave me with any options. George already has a date, Fred loves you, and Lee knows I would hex him. Unless you want to take me," Katie said with her trademark sarcastic tone.

"Sure!" Angelina said. "Let's just go dateless. We will get to just hang out and not have to worry about the drama. Plus, maybe we could pick up some hot guys from Beauxbatons or Drumstrang."

"I am a sucker for a foreign accent," Katie said, starting to really like the idea. "So we won't worry about finding dates until we actually get to the dance."

"Agreed."

Angelina felt so much more relieved after that conversation. She didn't have to worry about it. Well, she would certainly have to find a beautiful French or Bulgarian man to flaunt in George's face for the night. She couldn't be alone at the actual dance, but she didn't have to worry for now. Plus, she loved foreign accents, but she didn't want to have to put up the pretense of actually being interested in one of those guys before the ball.

Once she thought about it Angelina realized she really hadn't been taken advantage of the whole visiting schools thing. She had been so caught up in the whole George drama. She wondered what the guys from the other schools were actually like. As Katie and Angelina made their way back to the Gryffindor common room Katie accidentally walked right into one of the Drumstrang students.

"Oh, bollocks, excuse me," Katie said as she dropped to the ground trying the gather up the books both of them had dropped.

"Please do not worry about it," the boy said, bending down to help out. It wasn't until both of them straightened up that Angelina and Katie realized just how good looking this boy was. He was tall, much taller than Angelina which was saying a lot of a boy of no more than 16. He had the typical dark hair and eyes thing that most of the Drumstrang students had. The same thing that made all the girls at Hogwarts swoon. "My name is Aleksandar Petrov." They didn't realize they were starring until he spoke again. "And you both are..?"

"Oh, sorry, I'm Katie Bell. This is my best friend Angelina," Katie rushed to say.

"It is a great pleasure to meet you both. I must return to my dormitory but I hope to see you before we leave. I am very sorry about the accident. Have a pleasant night," He said to them and then strode off with the confident march of a boy who had always succeeded at everything he tried.

"Holy hell. If I had known the Drumstrang blokes were that attractive I would have ditched you lot months ago," Katie said after recovering from the interaction with Aleksandar. They both kept looking back over their shoulder almost as though doing so would make him appear again. Angelina had to admit he was possibly the most attractive person she had ever seen. Definitely the most attractive person she had seen at Hogwarts.

"I am setting a new year's resolution for us a bit early. One of us will snog that boy before he leaves."

"Well I was going to go for shag. I doubt either of us will see someone that gorgeous again. We need to take advantage while we can."

Rolling her eyes at Katie's train of thought Angelina split off from her friend to go to her own room. It had been a long day and she just wanted to sleep so she didn't have to worry about everything between her and George. She could just hope that tomorrow he wouldn't be so awkward.

The next day as she was walking to lunch she heard someone calling her name behind her. As she turned around she was Katie jumping up and down and working her way towards her. Angelina had no idea what could possibly make Katie act that mental.

"He asked me to the ball," Katie said, squealing like one of those prissy girls they ridiculed so much.

"Wait. Who asked you? Yesterday we were talking about how we didn't have any prospects and today you have a date that is making you act unhinged."

"Aleksandar!!!!"

"Bloody hell! Really? How did that happen?" Angelina asked, now fully understanding her reaction.

"I don't even know. After breakfast today I was walking to class when he came up to me. He said he was walking in the same direction and asked if he could walk me to my class. We talked the whole way there without any awkward pauses. He is actually interesting, which is surprising because typically beautiful people don't have anything interesting to say…"

"I resent that," Angelina interrupted with a laugh.

"You know what I mean. Not all pretty people, just the ones that could easily be on the cover of Witch Weekly. But anyways, once we got to McGonagall's classroom he asked me if I would 'do him the great honor of accompanying him to the Yule Ball.'"

"How did he take the rejection?" Angelina asked, laughing at how excited Katie was.

"Haha. So after I obviously agreed he kissed my hand and told me that with my permission he would like to eat dinner with me tonight."

"You too are, like, totally in love."

"Sod off. You would be just as excited as I am."

"Of course. He is bloody beautiful."

"But are you okay with me going with him? I know we said we would go dateless but he is, like you said, bloody gorgeous."

"Oh come on. I would never ask you to turn down a boy who looked like that for any reason. I can still just go alone and find someone there. I think I might go for one of the Beauxbatons blokes. Try to get all our bases covered."

"Or you could go for Fred."

"I don't want to lead him on. If he does actually fancy me I shouldn't give him false hope."

"Fine. I am just trying to show you all your options."

Katie was still gushing about Aleksandar as they made their way through the Great Hall towards Fred, George, and Lee.

"Katie, stop talking about the ball. I don't want Fred to ask me before I can come up with a new excuse since my going with you is now shot. Hey guys," Angelina said turning to the three boys.

"Afternoon Angelina," Fred said. Lee waved. George glanced up and nodded his head but that was all. During lunch and the continuous cold shoulder from George Angelina decided that she had to put an end to this. He couldn't keep treating her like this. She had a right to be mad when she found out about Samantha Wilson. He needed to just let it go now.

As they were leaving lunch Angelina walked up next to George and said quietly, "Can we talk?"

"Now?"

"Yes, now. You have been ignoring me all day."

"Fine. Guys we will meet you back in the common room," George said without any explanation to where they were going. To Angelina's surprise Fred didn't seem at all worried about it.

"Alright. See you in a bit," Fred said over his shoulder as he continued on to Gryffindor tower.

Once they had found an empty classroom to talk in George quickly turned on Angelina. "You wanted to talk, so talk."

"You have no right to be angry. You have been a prat for the past two days."

"Well sorry that I didn't feel like chatting with you after you blew up at me. You really were charming, you know."

"You can't be the one to ignore me. You are the one who botched it all up. I thought everything was great and then out of the blue you throw this shit at me. Now I have to deal with it. Can't you please just act like nothing happened so I can attempt to as well. I just don't want everyone asking me questions about why things are awkward between us. I just want to pretend like the past few days never happened and have everything go back to normal."

George's expression softened. She could see the anger draining out of him, leaving only exhaustion over the subject. She would have guessed that her expression very much resembled his at that moment. "I'm sorry that I ruined everything," George said, looking earnestly upset. "I don't know if I can pretend that our conversation never happened, but I will try, okay?"

That was not the response that Angelina wanted. She wanted him to admit that he was very much at fault. He led her on and then with no warning went off to have a go at one of those stupid bimbos. She was supposed to be one of his best friends.

"Well thank you for your gallant attempt," Angelina said, laying on the sarcasm as strong as she could before storming out of the classroom.

Her anger did no decrease throughout the rest of the day. She was fuming through all of her classes. When her friends, minus George, asked her what was wrong she blew them off with a few choice words. They all knew that if Angelina was mad not to challenge her in any way. As they were leaving their last class Fred caught up with her.

"So what are you doing during the free period," he asked.

"I don't know, Fred."

"Hey, you got tell us apart back down. Maybe you aren't as hopeless as we thought," he said trying desperately to break her out of her foul mood.

Angelina cringed slightly. She obviously couldn't tell him that the reason she knew it was him without even thinking was that his brother wasn't speaking to her.

When she didn't give more of a response than a slight nod of her head he continued on. "What do you think about flying? I know we only have a little bit of time before dinner but I figured it might cheer you up."

"I'm fine, Fred. Thank you but I am just having one of those days and want to go back to the common room until dinner. I will definitely meet you guys in the Great Hall."

She sped up her walk and continued away from Fred. He could normally make her forget everything, but at this moment she was still too angry at George and looking at Fred just reminded her how much she wanted to hex his brother.

Over the next few days her anger subsided almost fully, though there were times when she would talk to George and it came flooding back even stronger than before. One night, after yet again escaping to her bed to avoid any extra time with George, Katie came up to her room to drag her out of bed.

"We are going to go and interact with people. It will be good for you. We won't even talk to the boys, okay?"

"Fine. He just makes me so mad every time I see him!"

"Yeah, yeah. Don't worry about it. But I am warning you that we will be talking to some of the girls instead."

"Can't I just stay in bed? It would be better than having to try to force conversation with girls who I swear have nothing in their heads."

"I know Alicia is downstairs so we can just sit with her and talk about Quidditch and what the team will be like next year. I know you don't love her but you are not choosing her as your new best friend, just someone to talk to for a break from the Weasley twins."

Katie finally managed to get Angelina down stairs and into one of the comfortable chairs near the back of the room. Angelina was actually having a pretty good time talking with Alicia. She hadn't ever disliked Alicia, she just never felt that she could keep up with the fast pace conversation that comes along with the Weasley twins. Without them around the conversation actually flowed quite nicely. After about an hour of talking with Katie and Alicia, Angelina noticed Fred and George enter through the portrait hole. Both sets of eyes seemed to settle on her before anything else, but their reactions were very different. Fred broke into his normal huge smile, sending a wink her way while George's gaze hardened a bit, making Angelina start to fume again. Katie noticed this and shot her a look that said to let it drop just this once. As they continued talking she heard someone call her name.

"Oi! Angelina!" she heard Fred say from clear across the common room where he was standing with Ron, Harry, and Hermione.

"What?" she yelled back, completely aware that everyone was watching the exchange, doubtless waiting to see what the Weasley twins were going to do next.

"Want to come to the ball with me?"

Angelina took a second to think over the situation. She really didn't want to go alone, especially since Katie now had Aleksandar to rave about all the time. But she also didn't want to let Fred think there was something between them. Then she glanced at George. He was staring intently at her, waiting to see her response. Just the briefest glance made her angry all over again.

"All right, then," she said before she realized what she was doing. Fred's face lit up while George's fell. Angelina couldn't help but smile a bit. She knew it was petty, but she wanted George to be disappointed. Regardless of George's reaction, she also knew she would have a great time with Fred.

She glanced over at Katie to see her giving her a hard look. It seemed to say 'I hope you know what you are doing'.

That look made her realize that maybe she didn't.

**A/N: So I was trying to explain why in the actual book Harry says that Angelina is smiling a bit after Fred asked her. Let me know what you think about where the story has been heading. Thanks everyone :-)**


	6. Chapter 6 Transformations

**Hey everyone! I know it has been a bit but I am finally getting chapter six up. I had a very hard time with this chapter so I would really appriciate any feedback you all have. Thanks!**

There was only a week left before the Yule Ball. Angelina was actually having a lot of fun getting ready for the dance. Fred was really into the whole thing, making her both tease him for it and get even more excited. George was still acting like a git, but Angelina had decided she couldn't let him bother her anymore. The most aggravating part was that he was acting completely normal with everyone else. She knew that he would come around eventually. She wasn't going anywhere.

The week before, Angelina, Katie, and Alicia had the chance to make it down to Hogsmeade to look for dress robes for the ball. Alicia had become more and more steadily a part of their group since the night Fred asked Angelina to the ball. She was pretty quiet, which gave her a lot of time to observe situations around her. She also was extremely blunt for someone who Angelina had always considered a bit of a push over.

While they were shopping for the perfect outfit, Alicia showed just how frank she could be. "So why exactly are you going to the ball with Fred if you like George?"

Angelina stopped in her tracks, turning to glare at Katie. "What the bloody hell? I told you not to tell anyone."

"Katie didn't tell me," Alicia said, jumping to her friend's defense. "I could easily tell by the way to acted when Fred asked you. I mean I always thought you had a thing for the twins from the way you acted at practice but I just didn't know the whole extent. I never considered the fact that liked one and not the other."

"Thanks for having so much faith in me," Katie said to Angelina, giving her friend a little push.

"I'm sorry Katie. And Alicia, I would really appreciate it if you didn't say anything to anyone. It's a really long story and I just don't do well with most of the girls at Hogwarts to begin with so you can imagine what would happen if they started gossiping about me and my love life."

"Yea, of course Angelina. Plus, I don't really talk to those girls anyways. They are bloody irritating aren't they?"

"Then why have you spent so much time with them over the past six years?" Katie asked, genuinely curious as to why someone would be friends with a person who drives them mental.

"Because Angelina had the twins from our first day at Hogwarts and since they intimidated the shit out of me as a first year I had to make other friends. By the time I could talk around them you guys already had your group. You don't really let people in, do you realize that?" Alicia said making Angelina feel a bit guilty for not getting to know her before. She realized right then they she could be great friends with Alicia. Over the course of the afternoon she explained her entire dilemma with the Weasley twins, from the new friendship with Fred to the fight with George.

"Something is really wrong with this whole situation," Alicia said once the entire story was complete. "I may not know Fred and George like you do but I know for a fact neither of them would go for a girl like Samantha Wilson!"

"Yeah, that's what I thought too until we got into the fight."

As they continued their conversation Angelina stood in front of the mirror to check out the newest outfit she tried on. Katie had convinced her to try on a deep purple dress that she would never have even picked up on her own. When she looked in the mirror she was shocked at what she saw. She looked beautiful. Angelina had never considered herself to be pretty. She certainly wasn't plain, but nothing to take special notice of. The color made her dark skin glow. Somehow her eyes looked light, more hazel than the typical mud brown they always seemed to be. The dress was cut in a tear drop neckline and strapless. There was about three inches of satin fabric under her bust that fit tightly around her ribs. The bottom of the dress flowed down, emphasizing just how long and thin her body was from the years of Quidditch training.

"Well Fred and George were right, purple does look perfect on you," Katie said, half laughing, half admiring how stunning her friend looked in that dress. Katie found a pretty blue dress which looked great with her light hair and skin while Alicia picked an olive green dress that made her green eyes pop. Each of their dresses was a perfect fit.

"Aleksandar is going to go crazy when he sees me," Katie said, daydreaming about seeing her new boy.

"Real modest Katie," Angelina said while laughing at her friend. "He really has been great though. I'm surprised by how much he is hanging out with us instead of the Drumstrang students. And he even has the same sense of humor, you know, when things aren't getting lost in translation."

"Plus he is the most attractive person we know. That helps," Alicia said.

The three girls made their way back up to the castle chatting about the ball that would be in a few weeks. "Alicia, I just realized. We have been talking about my drama and Aleksandar all day but we didn't talk about you at all! Who are you going to the ball with?" Angelina asked as they were entering the Gryffindor common room.

"Okay but you can't yell at me Angelina," Alicia said, soliciting nervous looks from both Angelina and Katie. "I'm going with Daniel Weathers. You know, the Ravenclaw beater. I figured this year is the only year I can go out with him without having the drama of us kicking his arse out on the Quidditch pitch."

All three girls busted out laughing. They were going with a rival Quidditch player, a random Bulgarian boy, and one of the biggest troublemakers Hogwarts had ever seen. It was certainly going to be an interesting night.

~*********~

"PLEASE!!!!"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because you will take advantage of it and then McGonagall will find out and George and I won't be able to go there ourselves."

"PLEASE!!!!"

Angelina and Fred had been having this same argument for two days. There was five days left before the Yule Ball and their whole group, now being made up of the twins, Lee, Angelina, Alicia, Katie, and Alexsandar, had everything ready. The day before Angelina and Alicia were sitting in the common room after dinner when they decided they would sell their souls for treacle tart. They had skipped out on dessert during dinner in the name of looking fabulous in their dresses at the ball only to decide two hours later that they made an enormous mistake. Along with that realization came a second realization of the fact that they didn't have to pine after tarts all night. Angelina's best friend knew the way to kitchens which had all the treacle tart they could want.

Angelina made her way over to Fred to try to get the directions to the kitchens out of him. Plopping down on the couch next to him she kicked off her shoes and threw her feet into his lap, assuming the position that they spent increasing amounts of time in. "It has been a long day," Angelina said, throwing him a pathetic glance as he started massaging her feet.

"And what has made this particular day so troublesome to you, Angelina?"

"Oh, I wouldn't want to bore you with the details," Angelina said, heaving a dramatic sigh and working up to her real question. "But do you know what would make me feel so much better?"

"What?" Fred asked, waiting for her request with humor plastered on his face. He had become plenty familiar with her antics over their six year friendship.

"Treacle Tart." Angelina's face was so falsely innocent that Fred couldn't help but laugh.

"And I assume you are telling me this because George and I are the only ones who know how to get there and I will most likely cave first." Fred was still oblivious to the awkwardness that marked Angelina and George's relationship now. What was obvious was that he would not betray their secret and give away the location of the kitchens. But Angelina wasn't going to give up easily. It became more about pride than anything else. She just had to know if he refused to tell her. Over the next days she worked every angle she could think of.

"I won't let you on the Quidditch team next year if you don't take me there now."

"Who says you are going to be captain? Maybe I'll get it," Fred said, to which Angelina simply raised an eyebrow. "Okay, fine. But you won't kick us off the team. We are too good and you are possibly more obsessed with winning than Wood was."

She tried begging, threats, even blackmail, but nothing was making Fred budge. After dinner Angelina decided to make one last attempt before giving up.

"Hey Fred."

"Hello love."

"Before you say no right away, hear me out." Fred turned to face her more and gestured for her to continue. "First of all, not knowing is driving me crazy. It's not even about getting the food. It's the fact that I don't know. If you don't take me you won't have a date to the ball because I will have been checked into St. Mungo's for going mental. Secondly, I promise I won't take advantage of it. Thirdly, please." She said all of this with a completely straight face, which only made Fred find the situation even more amusing.

"Okay, I'll take you," Fred said in between laughs. "But you can't tell anyone where it is okay?"

"Yes! Thank you so much. I promise," Angelina said before turning to face the opposite side of the common room where Katie, Alicia, and Lee were sitting. "Come on Alicia. We are going."

"Bloody hell, Angelina," Fred said. "I told you not to tell anyone."

"Alicia doesn't count. She was the one who originally got me hooked on the idea of going to get treacle tart. It's only fair if she can come too," Angelina told him.

"Ah, fine. But keep it just between you two. Not even Katie."

Angelina, Fred, and Alicia set off towards the kitchens. He pointed out how to get there, making sure that she would know for next time. She realized that if she had been paying attention the first time he brought them there she could have easily found it again. Then again she didn't know she was going to the kitchens until they were already there that time. They were met at the front door of the kitchen by the same house elf as before, the one obsessed with Harry, who surprisingly remembered even her name. She really could get used to that type of service.

They stayed much longer then they had meant to, making it back to Gryffindor Tower after curfew. Pretty much everyone had already headed up to bed. Alicia ran up to get ready for bed right away, leaving Fred and Angelina to hang out for a bit in the common room. Angelina started to really notice how great Fred was to her. He listened, he teased her, and he looked at her with the most adoring expression she had ever seen. He cared so much about her and she hadn't given him a chance at all. She couldn't help but think about how comfortable their relationship would be. He knew everything about her and still liked her, which was saying a lot.

Getting up from the comfortable couch where they were lounging together, Angelina stretched and told Fred it was time for both of them to go to bed or they would be exhausted the next day. He walked with her over to the girl's staircase and gave her a hug goodnight, holding on a little longer than necessary. When they pulled away Fred kept his hand on her waist and stared at her without saying anything letting his eyes roam her entire face, landing lastly on her lips. After a second he began to lean down. Angelina's mind went into overdrive. At the last second she turned her head slightly so he would kiss her check instead. She was ready to give him a chance, but she wasn't ready for that yet.

~*********~

Angelina had been starring at the dormitory ceiling for two hours. It was the night before the ball and she couldn't seem to fall asleep no matter what she did. It wasn't a nervous sort of lack of sleep, nor was it because she was excited. She just simply couldn't sleep. Everything was normal in her life. Fred hadn't acted weird that she hadn't kissed him and played it off like he was just trying to give her a kiss on the cheek anyways so that was nothing to be worried about. George was even acting a little friendlier, though not by much and never just the two of them. Regardless, Angelina had to find a way to get to sleep. After exhausting all the possible remedies that could take place in the confines of her small room she decided to break curfew and go down to the kitchens for a little snack. Maybe that would help her fall asleep.

Angelina slipped on just enough of her robes to look presentable to the house elves and started to make her way to the kitchens. After getting a bit lost she finally spotted the still life painting with the pear. She slipped quietly past the painting and into the kitchens, keeping an eye out for Mrs. Norris or Filch. She turned around to find both Dobby and one of the twins looking at her. A quick glance at the twin showed that it was George.

"I'm sorry. I couldn't sleep. I'll just go," Angelina said, turning to leave.

"Come on, Angelina. You don't have to do that. Come have something to eat," George said.

"Yes, Miss Johnson. Please sit and Dobby will get you your favorite treacle tart. Is there anything else Dobby can get for you today?"

"Um, well, no, Dobby. Thank you very much," Angelina said while trying desperately to think of something that would delay his departure so she wouldn't be alone with George. Unable to think of anything, she watched helplessly as Dobby scurried off to get her food. She unwillingly turned to face George and was surprised to see him smiling slightly back at her.

"Are you that nervous to be around me now that you try to keep the house elves around?" He said, laughing a bit.

"Well I never know what to expect from you anymore so the house elves are possibly better company," she said back a little harsher than she meant it to be.

George faltered a bit, unsure of how to continue the conversation. Finally, he seemed to figure out what he wanted to say. "You are right. I have been a git. I'm sorry. Just come and eat something, okay?"

Angelina sat down at the table with George which was covered with more food than either of them could possibly eat. "Hungry much?"

"Hah, yea. I have been coming here way to often lately and they bring you every type of food you have ever asked for."

Angelina just laughed and dug into the Yorkshire pudding in front of her. She looked up from the food and straight into George's eyes. She froze, unable to move, unable to think. She just looked back at him as she felt the ever familiar feeling of her heart swelling in her chest. Before her senses could catch up with her George broke the spell himself.

"I miss you , Ange. A lot."

Angelina involuntarily shivered at his use of her nickname, the name that only he was allowed to use. "You don't have to miss me," she said back, looking away from embarrassment. "I have been here the whole time."

"I know. I'm sorry."

"You already said that," Angelina said, laughing a bit at how nervous he seemed.

"Yeah, well I am," George said, smirking a bit.

"Can't we just pretend like the last few months never happened? Just rewind to right back before our fight and start again?"

George stared at her for a moment with a look that Angelina didn't quite understand. "Yeah, we can. I just want to be able to talk to you normally again."

"Okay, so let's start right this moment. Are you excited for you big date with Samantha Wilson tomorrow?" Angelina asked, trying her hardest to keep the sarcasm out of her voice and failing miserably.

"Oh yes," George said with even more sarcasm than Angelina. They both started laughing as George continued. "That girl drives me bloody mental."

"Why in Merlin's name did you ask her to the ball then?"

"I really have absolutely no idea. I was just talking to her about some stuff and she was being really nice and helpful and I just asked her. Granted, I wanted to hex myself right after but she was so excited that I felt bad telling her I had no desire whatsoever to spend any more time with her. Luckily she hasn't tried to become my actual girlfriend or anything. I might have kill myself if that happens."

"That would be a shame," Angelina said, feeling a bit of relief to know that he wasn't interested in Samantha.

"Hah, what about you and Fred? That should be fun."

"It will definitely be interesting," Angelina said, laughing at the thought of how tomorrow night was going to go. "I know I will have fun with him. Kind of the advantage of going with your best friend."

George's face dropped towards the table before he looked up with a smile that was a little too large. "You guys are perfect for each other. I'm really glad that you both finally figured that out."

Angelina didn't know how to respond. But he was right. They complemented each other so well. "Well, we aren't together. I don't know if we are going to date or not."

"Give him a chance Ange. He cares about you a lot."

Angelina knew what that statement actually meant. There was no chance for her and George. That was probably for the better anyways. All that fancying George had got her was uncertainty and pain. Fred had only made her happy and treated her well. "I will, George," she said looking away and getting up from the table. "I think I have had enough to eat. I'm not going to be able to fit into my dress tomorrow. Want to head back to the common room?"

"Nah. I'm going to stay here for a bit. I will see you tomorrow."

"Alright. 'Night."

Angelina walked out of the kitchens determined to look at her situation differently.

~*********~

The next day Angelina took part in more girly activities than she had ever before. Alicia and Katie loved make-up and doing their hair, so Angelina gave them the pleasure of doing both for her. After hours of prodding and poking they were all finally ready to go to the ball. Alicia had curled her long brunette hair so that it fell in elegant waves half way down her back with a bit pinned back to frame her face, emphasizing her beautiful eyes even more than her green dress did in the store. Katie's bright blonde hair was in a high, stylish ponytail that showed off more than ever her high cheek bones and startling blue eyes. Both girls had gone to work on Angelina's hair, trying to make something work with her ever stubborn hair. They created an up-do that fit perfectly with her classic dress. She was left with her hair curled in a loose ponytail and a few loose pieces curled around her face. She was actually extremely happy with the finished product. She felt pretty enough to stand beside those people who were known for being beautiful like Samantha Wilson and Cho Chang. Maybe even Fleur Delacour. Okay, so maybe not her, but still. She felt great. The three girls headed downstairs to meet their dates. They had all decided to just meet in the Great Hall since most of them weren't going with people from Gryffindor. Actually, Fred and Angelina were the only ones. Lee had asked another Hufflepuff who was friends with Samantha, though she seemed so much more interesting than her friend even if she wasn't as beautiful.

As Angelina, Katie, and Alicia made their way down the final staircase leading to the Great Hall they saw that all the boys were already there waiting for them. All four of them were starring at them like they were the most beautiful people they had ever seen. Angelina couldn't help but feel a bit uncomfortable at the attention. All that embarrassment disappeared as Fred stepped up to meet her.

"Shall we?" he said offering her his arm.

Angelina couldn't help but give him her biggest smile. "We shall," she said, taking his arm and heading into the ball.

**So the next chapter is going to be the actual ball! YAY! Please review :-)**


	7. Chapter 7 The Yule Ball

**Hi everyone! So it has been a bit since I updated. I have crazy classes right now :-( So here is the Yule Ball!**

The Great Hall was shining with stunning winter decorations covering every inch of it. Angelina had never seen Hogwarts look so beautiful and romantic. The couples made their way to a table about halfway up the room and settled in around the table. Angelina thought this is exactly how she pictured the "prom" that her Muggle friend Alex wrote to her about. The table just perfectly fit the five couples. Angelina looked down at the table to realize that it wasn't set up like a normal Hogwarts feast.

"What is this?" Angelina asked, picking up the menu and turning to Fred.

"I have no idea. I don't see any waiters either."

Just then they heard Dumbledore's booming voice and turned just in time to see him leaning away from his plate and food appear out of thin air. "Well at least it's nice to see that Hogwarts still has some surprises," George said across the table to Angelina.

"Come on. I don't care how much you two figure out. You will never know all of Hogwarts secrets."

"True, but we will always try," Fred said.

"And that is one of the many reasons why I love you two," Angelina said before leaning forward and placing her order into the plate.

The dinner was delicious. The house elves spared no extravagance on the dinner. While the feasts at Hogwarts had always been amazing, this meal was beyond anything they had ever tasted. They all ordered different things so they could try everything. Well, everyone but Samantha and her friend from Hufflepuff, who ended up being named Ellie. She was a sweet girl, but she followed everything Samantha did. As for Samantha, it seemed that she didn't like sharing very much. That included George's attention, particularly when it was focused towards Angelina. Apart from the snide remarks from Samantha, Angelina had a great time. She and George fell right back into their comfortable friendship, which she was thankful for, but they had both put up boundaries so that they wouldn't end up fighting again.

After a while, Dumbledore stood up at the front of the Great Hall to begin the actual ball portion of the Yule Ball. Angelina watched in amusement as Harry made his way to the dance floor with Parvati Patil at his side, apparently terrified about dancing in front of the entire Great Hall. Parvati grabbed his hand and began obviously leading him around the floor.

"'At a boy, Harry! Way to take control," Fred yelled across the Great Hall, which gained laughter from the entire table as well as a glare from Harry across the room. Angelina couldn't help but feel a bit bad for him. It was so easy to see how much he hated all that attention. But at the same time, the look on his face was absolutely priceless!

"So how long before Harry trips over his own feet? We are officially taking bets," Fred said, pulling a small notebook out of his robes.

"Half a dance," Katie said, "I will put 5 sickles on it."

"Only five? Come on Katie, as a regular member of this group I expect more from you," George said, trying to gain more money from the exchange, undoubtedly to go towards their joke shop fund.

"I say he will make it through the rest of the dance, but will trip while leaving the floor, that would be so much better," Angelina said, laughing already at the image forming in her head.

"Oh nice," Fred said, "How much?"

"Um, I'll say 10 sickles."

"Why is it that you make bets on your champion falling? Do you not approve of this young man?" Aleksandar asked, unsure of why the Hogwarts students would want their champion to be embarrassed.

"No, Alek, my boy," George said, trying to explain the situation. "Harry is like out little brother, which is why it is always funny when something embarrassing happens to him. Which happens often. For the Boy-Who-Lived he is exceedingly clumsy. Plus, we are hoping to make some money."

"So you do like him then?"

"Of course," Katie said, with exceptional enthusiasm "He is our champion!"

"He isn't every Hogwarts student's champion, you know," Samantha said.

The entire table froze. If Aleksandar had any questions about where the loyalties of the group lay they were cleared up in that one second. Samantha was met with the darkest stares anyone at that table had ever witnessed. The only people not glaring at her were Aleksandar, who looked shocked from the abrupt change in mood, and Ellie, who looked embarrassed by her friend.

"Do you have a problem with Harry, Samantha?" Angelina asked. She had an incredibly threatening expression plastered on her face. While she had never been too close with Harry she felt protective of him like he was her little brother, and no one messes with Angelina Johnson's family.

"No problem," Samantha said, trying to cover her tracks. "I was just saying that Hogwarts does have two champions."

"Yeah, we know that. No one said that Diggory wasn't our champion too. You are the only one here that seems to want to split the school into Diggory supporters and Harry supporters," Angelina said, getting more riled up by the second.

"Come on, Ange. She wasn't trying to start a fight. She is just in the same house as Cedric," George said in an attempt to stop the fight before Angelina became too upset.

"How can you defend her?" Angelina yelled at George. "You are supposed to support Harry more than anyone else. He is like family to you!"

"Angelina, you know I support Harry. I just want to keep you from blowing up the entire ball," George said with a small laugh. Angelina couldn't help but laugh a little as well. She may have been a little out of hand, but Samantha had been a little bitch all night and that had just pushed her over the edge. At this point other couples had joined the champions on the dance floor.

"How about a dance to get all that angry energy out," Fred said, standing up and offering Angelina his hand.

"Sounds great," she said back, taking his hand. As she started to walk away she heard a little of George's conversation with Samantha.

"…he is practically my little brother and if you have a problem with him than you can get another date." Angelina smiled, content that George wasn't letting her get away with the jibe.

The entire school began to file onto the dance floor. Fred and Angelina pushed to the front of the stage to get a better view of the Weird Sisters' performance. All the girls were a bit disappointed that the Nymph Chasers got replaced by the Weird Sisters, but the show was still incredible. Fred and Angelina were having the best time. With any other person she would have felt self-conscious while dancing, wondering if she was doing okay or not. She had never been much of a dancer, but with Fred it just worked. They were just as equally energetic and ended flailing around the dance floor together. Even more than that, Fred actually liked to dance. They would be jumping around like maniacs when suddenly he would grab her hand and spin her into a dip. She slightly noticed that there was a whole area opening up around them. Everyone was probably scared of what they would do. While everyone in the school knew something would eventually happen between Angelina and one of the Weasley twins they were also terrified at the prospect. They could end up destroying the school if they got in a fight or broke up.

But tonight neither Angelina nor Fred was worrying about that. They were just happy to be there together. After a few hours of dancing, both Angelina and Fred were absolutely exhausted. "Do you want to take a break?" Fred asked, "Maybe get something to drink?"

"Merlin, yes! I am so tired!"

The two made their way back over to the table where Alicia and Daniel were taking a break as well. "Hello, lovely," Alicia said as Angelina flopped down beside her. "How is it going?"

"Great except for the fact that it is a bloody sauna in here."

"I'm going to go grab some drinks for us," Fred said as he made his way to side of the room.

"Hold on, mate," Daniel said, hopping up out of this seat, "I'll grab something for us too, Alicia." He leaned down and gave her a quick peck on the cheek before running off to catch up with Fred. Alicia turned to Angelina with a beaming smile only to be met with a raised eyebrow from her friend.

"Don't look at me like that!" Alicia said, "He is very sweet."

"You really fancy him, don't you?" Angelina asked, extremely amused by how embarrassed Alicia was acting. She hadn't really had the chance to see Alicia and Daniel together before since they had eaten dinner with his friends from Ravenclaw instead of their group.

"Yeah I do. And you would think he was great if you got to know him too. But no. We cannot be friends with the enemy!" Alicia said, mocking Angelina's excessively competitive nature.

"Haha. He seems a little too nice for my taste but he also seems great for you. But if this continues into next year you better still whip his arse on the Quidditch pitch."

"I promise to whip his arse," Alicia laughed. "So how is it going with you? It seems like you two are having a great time."

"We really are. He just makes me happy. I'm glad I decided to come with him."

"Does that mean you are going to stop being an idiot and give him a chance?"

Angelina sighed. "I don't know. He doesn't have the effect on me that you are supposed to get from someone you like. How do you feel when Daniel smiles at you?"

"I don't know. I guess the same feeling as when I make a big dive to catch the Quaffle during a match. Like I am nervous but at the same time it's the best feeling ever."

"Exactly. When Fred smiles at me I feel happy, like when I am flying, but I don't get that rush."

"Not ever relationship is like that, with the stomach dropping and all. Don't date him if you aren't interested in him but keep in mind that the best relationships come from people that feel comfortable with each other and just love being together. Sound familiar at all?"

Angelina looked across the room to where Fred was standing with Ron, obviously giving him a hard time about something or another. She hadn't even realized she was smiling until he looked up and sent her a wink which just made her laugh and shake her head at his typical antics. He may not make her feel light headed, but he did make her the happiest she ever is.

Fred made his way back over to the table, stopping to get Daniel away from a group of fifth year Ravenclaws that he was trying to escape from.

"Thanks, Fred," Daniel said as they sat back down at the table and handed their dates the drinks. "Those girls are so bloody annoying."

"No problem mate. I could tell they were driving you nutters."

"So what were you giving Ron a hard time about now?" Angelina asked, always entertained by their Ron stories.

"Hah, the stupid little bugger is all pissy about the fact that Hermione is here with Krum. This morning he was worshipping the git and now he wants to hex him. He really makes no sense." Angelina and Alicia shared a looked and then busted out laughing. "What?" Fred asked, genuinely confused.

"Well, Fred," Alicia said, "Why could it be that Ron is upset about Hermione dating Viktor Krum?"

"I don't know. He thinks he is too old for her. She is like his sister and he is worried about her."

"Um, Fred, I don't think that Ron thinks of Hermione as his sister," Angelina said.

"I know he isn't as close to Hermione as he is to Harry but he still cares about her."

"Exactly. He cares about her," Alicia said slowly, still trying to get Fred to understand what they were saying.

"I'm not following you."

"He fancies her!" Angelina said and then turned towards Alicia and Daniel. "With this one a lot of the time you have to lay everything out for him. Being dense seems to run in their family."

"Merlin! I think he does!" Fred said, finally catching on. "Ron and Hermione? When the bloody hell did that happen?"

"It hasn't happen, you dolt. But it will."

"What will happen?" George asked as he joined them at the table. Samantha was conspicuously absent.

"Ron and Hermione," Alicia said without giving any other explanation.

"What?" George said, turning towards his twin. "Since when?"

"See what I mean about the dense thing?" Angelina said, making everyone laugh. Everyone, that is, except the twins who were still stunned by the idea of Ron and Hermione together.

The group went on people watching. There was such a wide group of people that it was definitely leading to some interesting events. Roger Davies and _Mademoiselle Delacour_ were in the corner of the room not caring that they were acting that way in front of all three schools. It seemed that Zacharias Smith had decided to sneak in some firewhisky to the dance and was now being scolded by a very angry looking McGonagall. Angelina wasn't sure whether or not he would remember that he had detention in the morning. Worst of all was little Ginny Weasley was suffering through another dance with Neville Longbottom. She probably wouldn't even be able to walk tomorrow with all the abuse her feet were receiving.

When a slow song came on Fred jumped to his feet. Expecting to dance more, Angelina stood up as well. "Actually, Angelina, I was wondering if I could grab Ginny for this one. She needs an escape from Longbottom if she ever wants to walk about. Is that okay with you?"

"Of course!" Angelina said. She was always surprised by Fred when it came to his baby sister. The girl had always seemed pretty bland to Angelina, but there must have been something more there. Fred loved that girl so much. Sometimes she even rivaled George, but of course nothing could break those two. Angelina sat back down and watched as Fred cut in. She felt so much affection for Fred in that moment. Even though he could be a bit cruel at times, especially to Ron, he really was a sweet person. Her thoughts were interrupted by a small cough.

"Well, might I steal a dance while my brother is otherwise occupied?" George said offering Angelina his hand.

Angelina smiled up at him and took his hand, letting him lead her out onto the dance floor.

"So, where is your date?"

"Well I may or may not be hiding from her," George said with a laugh.

"Oh, so that's why you asked for a dance. If she sees us dancing she will think you are Fred and leave you alone," Angelina said.

"Obviously," George said with a smirk.

"Hah, glad I could be of service. But really, are you having at least a bit of fun?"

"I am right now." He said, making Angelina blush involuntarily. Recognizing the pattern she was falling back into, Angelina tried to change the subject.

"So it is really sweet how Fred is with Ginny. She is the only person who brings out that side of him."

"Yeah, he is great with her," he said turning them slightly so he could see Ginny and Fred.

"How did that even happen?" Angelina asked with a bit of a laugh, yet actually curious.

"Hah, I know. It is a bit strange. Well, Fred and I are obviously close. We weren't really born with the choice." George said, laughing at some memory that she didn't share. "But we never really clicked with the rest of the family. Our family is incredibly close, don't get me wrong, but Ginny is different."

"Different how? She seems so quiet."

George laughed hard at that. "Yeah, I guess she does while she is here. She is actually one of the feistiest people I have ever met. I think she is just intimidated by everyone here. Plus, she didn't get off to a great start. Her first year here was awful."

"Yeah, what happened that year?"

"Don't worry about it," George said, obviously anxious to get off the subject. "Anyways, she has always been a bit of a troublemaker, so Fred and I took her under our wing. He got closest with her, though. Of the rest of our family she is the only one who gets him. She is also the only one from our family who can tell us apart, like you. Bill is too old, Charlie is off with his dragons, and Percy is, well, look at him." They both turned to look up at the table where the self-important little git was making a fool of himself. "Yeah, and Ron has always been our punching bag since we started teaching him the wrong words for things when he was a baby."

"So that left Ginny," Angelina said, beginning to understand the relationship that Fred had with his sister. She was his protégé and the person he would protect with his life. Again she felt a wave of affection for her best friend.

"Yep. So are you having a fun time?" George asked, moving the conversation away from his twin.

"Yeah, really great. But I always have fun with Fred so that isn't much of a surprise."

"Of course," George said. After a second he continued, "You look really beautiful tonight Ange."

Angelina looked up at him and saw no trace of that permanent smirk on his face. She didn't know what to say to that comment.

"I mean, you always look beautiful," George began to ramble, "but tonight you look even prettier. That dress is perfect. We were all stunned when you came down the stairs. Not that it is strange that you looked that great. Just…oh bollocks."

Angelina couldn't help but laugh. He looked so adorable trying to compliment her and failing miserably. "Thank you, George. I mean, you completely botched that, but I got the point."

"You really know how to make a guy feel great, Ange," George said, adopting that smirk back onto his face.

The song ended so George and Angelina made their way back to their table, which had now become filled with their entire group, including Samantha. She turned to George and asked, "Fred, where the bloody hell is your twin? I have been looking for him for half an hour."

"Maybe if you were nicer to his friends he would have stuck around," Angelina said, not even attempting to hide how much she hated this girl.

"Ange," George said, giving her a warning look.

"Sorry," she said, rolling her eyes before turning to Samantha. "This is George. Fred is over with his sister."

"I should have known he would be with her," Samantha said to Ellie in what she thought was a whisper.

"What exactly is that supposed to mean?" Angelina asked Samantha, calling her out in front of the entire group.

George suddenly seemed like he had to get out of there that second. No doubt he wanted to avoid another fight between his friend and his date. "Hey, Samantha, do you want to dance?"

"I would love to, George," Samantha said even though she was still glaring at Angelina.

"Do me a favor," George said to Angelina as his date walked around the table. "Try not to kill my date before the night is over." Throwing her one last smirk he walked off to the dance floor.

"Merlin that girl is awful!" Angelina said, throwing herself into a chair.

"She isn't that bad once you get to know her," Ellie said. Angelina had completely forgotten that she was there. "She is just threatened by you."

"I'm really sorry," Angelina said, "I didn't mean to make that awkward for you."

"You don't have to apologize." She said moving over to the chair next to her and leaving Lee to talk with the rest of the table. "She has been terrible to you tonight."

"I don't even get it. I haven't done anything to her. Well, besides jump down her throat at the whole Harry thing but I am very protective of him. And she was acting that way before that."

"Don't let it get to you. She just really likes George and she also knows about his feelings for you so she is trying to make herself feel better about the whole situation. Not that that excuses her."

"What are you talking about?" Angelina asked, now thoroughly confused with the conversation. "George doesn't have feelings for me."

"That isn't what he told Samantha."

"What? When?" Angelina asked, her mind reeling.

"Right before he asked her to the ball." Ellie said. When Angelina still looked confused she continued. "You have to have heard about this. That is why you two got in the fight a few months ago right?"

"Yeah, because he asked Samantha to the ball."

"No, because you were mad that he fancied you and was messing up your friendship."

Angelina suddenly looked back at the past few months and realized that they had never actually talked about what they were arguing about. "But if he fancied me then why the bloody hell would he have asked Samantha to the ball?"

"Well, according to her, he was upset because Fred talked to him about how he fancied you. He was sitting outside of the Great Hall after breakfast and Samantha went to talk to him since she fancies him and all and he just started pouring out his heart. It actually was pretty terrible for Samantha to hear," Ellie said, thinking back to her best friend's reaction. "But after a while of talking she told him to go and tell you how he felt and that Fred would understand if you both felt the same way about each other. He asked her if she wanted to go to the ball if things fell through with you. Between you and me I think it was more of a joke than anything else but that isn't how she took it. Anyways, you know the rest."

Angelina was shocked. She should have waited to hear what George had to say before she had run off. She was so hurt at the whole situation when really she was the one hurting him. But she had taken so many steps to get over him. And she was here as his twin brother's date. And his twin brother cared so much about her and treated her the way she wanted to be treated. She looked out at the dance floor to see both boys dancing, George with Samantha and Fred still with Ginny. Why did she have to find this out right when she was beginning to have feelings for Fred? She watched as Fred dipped Ginny so that she was looking at Angelina upside down and the two sent her identical smiles. How had she never noticed how sweet he could be? Then she watched as George spun Samantha in and sent Angelina a look that screamed 'SAVE ME' over her head which made Angelina's heart speed up. How was she supposed to choose between them?

"I think I have spared Ginny's feet enough for the night," Fred said as he ran up to her and grabbed her hand, pulling her from her seat. "I want to dance with you some more," he said with a wink.

Laughing, Angelina let herself be dragged back out onto the dance floor. As they danced, she completely forgot about her newly developed love triangle and just enjoyed the time she was spending with her best friend. After a few more songs Fred suggested they go outside for a bit. It was so hot in the Great Hall that the freezing outdoors felt perfect.

Once they were outside, Fred slipped off the coat of his dress robes and slipped it over Angelina's shoulders. "I'm really glad you agreed to come with me tonight," he told her.

"I am too. This has been a lot of fun. I don't think there is anyone else who could have kept me on the dance floor that long," she said with a laugh.

"That's very true. I was actually surprised by your dancing skills. To be honest I thought you would be bloody awful."

Angelina budged him with her arm as they continued walking. "Sod off. I'm a brilliant dancer."

"Brilliant is one way to describe it," he laughed.

Angelina turned and smiled slightly at him knowing she had no argument there. Fred laughed even harder at the look of unwilling surrender on her face. "So it was really sweet that you spent time with Ginny tonight," Angelina said. "She was probably so tired of Neville."

"Hah, yeah she was. She said yes so she could come to the ball but I think she will be regretting it tomorrow."

"I didn't realize how close you two are."

"She is my little sidekick," Fred said with obvious affection in his voice. "George is the person I am closest to in the entire world but no one is like my baby sister."

"I never thought I would hear to talk like this," Angelina said with a smile.

"Is that good or bad?"

"Good," Angelina said, looking up at him where they had stopped walking.

Fred's expression changed as he looked back down at her. His expression was both amused and curious. He seemed a bit unsure of what to do next. He slowly reached up and brushed one of the curly strands of her hair away from her face. Angelina's mind jumped into overdrive the second he touched her. She hadn't made up her mind about the twins. What if she made the wrong decision? But he was so sweet to her. Tonight had been perfect. But she had always fancied George. Could she really give that up if there was a chance of it finally happening? All these thoughts crossed her mind as he cupped her cheek and began to lean towards her. Then she remembered dancing with him and how everything else had disappeared for those few minutes.

With that thought Fred leaned down and placed his lips on hers.

**So this is the new chapter. I would really appriciate feedback. If you are enjoying the story and want it to continue it will happen sooner if I get feeback from you guys. If you don't like the story I would still appriciate your comments on how I could improve :-) Hope to hear back from you!**


	8. Chapter 8 First Kiss

**Hi everyone! So this was a pretty quick update. I was encouraged by the wonderful reviews :-) Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed. Good feedback helps with writing the next chapter!**

Fred gently touched his lips to hers as if to make sure it was what she wanted. When she didn't push him away he slipped his hand to the back of her neck and deepened the kiss. Angelina timidly let him part her lips as he pulled her as close to him as possible. It was the most perfect kiss she could imagine. But while the kiss was great she still didn't feel anything.

"Wait!" Angelina said as she broke the kiss and bolted over to a nearby bench and sat down with her back to Fred.

"What's wrong? Did I do something?" Fred asked making his way over to her.

"No, you have been so great tonight," Angelina said keeping her back to him.

"But…"

Angelina turned to face him. He was standing next to the bench looking down at her with a mixture of confusion and hurt on his face. "I'm sorry," she told him, completely heartbroken that she was hurting him. "I just… It's really... I don't even know Fred." She buried he face in her hands and rapidly tried to think of a way to explain it to him without hurting him.

"Angelina, I have been your best friend for nearly six years," he said as he sat down beside her. "Just talk to me okay?"

"Do you realize what a great guy you are?"

"That much is obvious," Fred said with a small laugh that was devoid of its normal humor. "The question is whether or not you do."

"Come on, Fred," Angelina said, getting a bit angry at that comment. "It isn't that. You know that I think you are an incredible person. I don't know why, but as much as I want to I don't have feelings for you."

"Are you sure about that? Because that kiss didn't seem like nothing."

"No, that kiss was great. And we would probably be great together…"

"Yeah, we would. So what's the problem?" Fred asked, obviously frustrated and confused by the conversation.

"Because as great as we are for each other I would just be dating you because I am comfortable with you and would eventually end up hurting me," she tried to explain, knowing that since he couldn't feel what she was feeling he wouldn't understand.

"You already are," he said quietly.

"I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have even said yes to come tonight. I care about you more than anyone else and I hate that I have to do this."

"Look, Angelina," Fred said, turning back to her, "I love you. No wait," he stopped her when she tried to interrupt. "When I say I love you I mean that you are one of the most important people in my life, not in a romantic sense, even though I think I could easily fall in love with you. I know that we have known each other for such a long time and this all kind of came out of nowhere. It's just that since I've gotten to know you so much better during this year I realized how great we would be together."

"We would be. I'm so sorry Fred," Angelina said, succeeding in interrupting him this time.

"You have a real problem with letting people finish," Fred told her.

"Oh yeah, I'm sorry."

"Will be you please stop apologizing?" Fred said with a sudden burst of anger as he shot off the bench and walked a few paces away.

"I didn't want to hurt you," Angelina said quietly to his back.

"Then why did you let me kiss you?" he asked without turning back to her, lifting his hand to his massage his brow a bit.

"I thought that maybe I would end up fancying you if I gave you a proper chance. It's what I would have done with any other guy, but you aren't just any guy. You are my best friend. I figured that since we got along so well that the feelings would come later. I mean it isn't like I don't find you attractive," her thoughts involuntarily shooting to George. "I just don't get that feeling when I am with you," she finished cringing at how she knew it sounded.

"Well at least I know it isn't my great looks that are keeping you from fancying me," Fred said with another humorless laugh.

"Please, Fred. I can't lose you. I know I have horribly selfish but I would go mental if you weren't my friend."

A moment passed before Fred responded. Finally turning back to look at her he said, "You aren't going to lose me, Angelina. For some unknown reason I can't lose you either." He shook his head and scoffed a bit at that thought. "But I am going to need a little space for awhile. I need to get over you if we are ever going to be real friends again and that won't happen if you are always around."

"I understand," Angelina said, but her voice cracked a little and she felt a tear roll down her cheek.

"I'm going to go."

"Are you going back to the ball?" Angelina asked while trying to discreetly whip away the few tears she had let escape.

"I don't really feel up to a party to be honest. I am going to head back to the dormitory. I'll see you later Angelina," Fred said. He bent down to where she was still sitting on the bench and gave her a soft kiss on her cheek and walked away.

The second he was out of sight Angelina broke down. The way he looked at her throughout the conversation, a harsh mixture of anger, hurt, and hope, had shaken her more than she could have possibly imagined. She knew how much that conversation would hurt him, yet she allowed herself to cling on to him because she wasn't secure enough to put an end to his attention before it got to that point.

As she sat on the bench sobbing with her make-up running down her face a very intoxicated Fleur Delacour and Roger Davies came stumbling by her. "Mon Dieu!" Angelina heard Fleur said, undoubtedly from seeing the mess that was Angelina. "Oh Cherie," she said as she made her way to the bench with great difficulty. "Are you alright?" she slurred as she began thoroughly invading Angelina's personal space.

"I am fine," Angelina said, attempting to compose herself. Fleur Delacour was the last person she wanted to fall apart in front of. "This night just isn't what I expected."

"Oui, je sais. I wonder," Fleur said as she became lost in thought. "Do you zink your date left you because of ze dress you wore or ze way you did you 'air?"

After the second it took for her comment to sink in Angelina pushed her drunken arse off both her and the bench, "For your information I was the one who turned down my date so sod off!" Angelina said as she stormed away from a stunned looking Fleur and a worried looking Roger Davies.

"Maybe 'er attitude is why 'er date did not want 'er," Angelina heard Fleur say as she walked away from them.

Angelina walked as quickly as she could through the groups of people trying her hardest to avoid any attention. As she bolted through the entrance hall she kept her head down and attempted to avoid making eye contact with anyone. She briefly noticed couples kissing each other goodnight, girls gossiping, and Hermione and Ron making a scene that most other people were watching. All she wanted was to get out of there and was incredibly thankful for the distraction that they were providing.

After successful maneuvering her way back to the Fat Lady without running into anyone she climbed through the portrait to be faced with Fred, George and Lee sitting in the chairs near the fire. Fred was sitting in the largest chair right next to the fire place while Lee was on the couch and George was standing up next to Fred's chair. Right after she entered the room George looked over at her. The look in his eyes was enough to make her eye well up again, like he wanted nothing more than to come over and talk to her but knew that it was not an option. After holding his gaze for a brief moment and Angelina broke it off and made her way as quickly as possible to the stairs.

Angelina flew into her room and slammed the door before collapsing on the floor and starting to cry again. A few minutes after that Alicia came out of the connecting bathroom and saw her on the floor and was by her side in the next second. Without saying a word she pulled her into a hug.

"What happened Angelina?" she asked after a moment. Angelina couldn't answer. She wasn't ready to tell anyone about any of it. She had hurt her best friend and didn't know how long it would be before he could forgive her. On top of that she never felt for insecure as that bitch made her feel with one sentence. Alicia seemed to understand that she wasn't ready to talk yet and just kept repeating "Okay. It's alright. You are okay," continuously until her crying stopped. Alicia helped her into pajamas and got her into bed. As Angelina sunk more into her bed and sleep she tried not to think about what had happened and how it was going to change everything.

~*********~

Angelina spent the majority of the remaining holiday break locked up in her room. She didn't think she could face either of the twins. The hurt that she knew would be on Fred's face when he saw her was enough to make her hide out, but she also didn't think she would be able to face George now that she knew he at least had been interested in her at one point and that they had been so close to working it out if she hadn't botched it all up. A few times Katie dragged her outside to fly or grab some food, but Angelina typically refused to be in the Great Hall where the boys would undoubtedly be so Alicia would go to the kitchens and bring her back things.

The morning after the dance Angelina woke up in her bed wishing more than anything that she could just go back to sleep and forget all about the events of the previous night. After lying wide awake in her bed for nearly an hour she decided she should at least open up the curtains around her bed. As she began to pull open the curtains she heard people speaking.

"So what happened?" Katie asked.

"I have no idea. I just came out of the bathroom and she was in a heap on the floor crying her eyes out. I tried to get her to talk about it last night but she wouldn't. Or couldn't, I'm not really sure."

"Do you think we should wake her up?"

"No. Let her sleep. Whatever happened she was a mess. I have never seen Angelina like that before."

"I have only seen her cry once and that was when her mom wrote to tell her the cat she had had her whole life died. And then it was only like one tear. We just need to make sure she talks about it. Angelina has the tendency to bottle things up and if she was that upset last night whatever it is will kill her."

"I am not going to die guys," Angelina said as she pulled the curtains back and threw her legs over the side of her bed.

"You are up," Katie said quickly. "How are you doing?"

"Not too good."

"You know we are here for you, right?" Alicia said, trying to ease her into the conversation.

"Of course I do. Thank you guys but I'll be fine."

Angelina got up and started to head to the bathroom when Katie jumped up and pushed her back onto the bed. "Oh you are not getting away like that, Angelina. Alicia told me what happened last night and you don't get like that EVER," she told her best friend. "You have to talk to us about this."

Angelina sighed but also realized that Katie wasn't going to take no for an answer. She told them everything that happened at the ball from watching Fred and Ginny to her conversation with Ellie to the comments from Fleur. At that part of the story Katie burst in with a long line of profanities aimed towards the Beauxbatons champion. By the time she reached the end of the story she could feel herself getting choked up again.

"I am really sorry Angelina," Katie said. She had been with her through everything and understood more than anyone just how much this was killing her.

"Can I ask you something?" Alicia asked her. After Angelina nodded she continued. "Did you decide to end things with Fred because of what you found out about George? And be honest."

Angelina smiled a little at her friends question and really thought about it before she answered. "I'm sure it had something to do with the overall decision, but it wasn't the main reason. I had been working so hard to develop feelings for Fred and the 'feelings' that I began to have were really only as friends. When he kissed me I felt nothing."

"He was that bad, huh?" Katie joked.

Angelina laughed for the first time since Fred had kissed her. "No! Actually he was a great kisser. Which just goes to show that I really don't feel anything for him."

"Well, I think it is good you decided to tell him," Alicia said. "If you can't have feelings for a guy after an incredibly romantic dance and nearly perfect kiss then you will never have feelings for him."

Angelina knew that she was right and felt a bit reassured about the whole situation. Once they understood what all happened they were great about helping her avoid them. She had seen the twins together a few times and they had smiled slightly at each other, but none of them had made an attempt to talk.

Unfortunately, Angelina wouldn't be able to avoid them for much longer. Classes were going to begin in a few days which forced her to interact with both Fred and George. Angelina, Katie, and Alicia came up with a game plan for the classes to help decrease the level of awkwardness. They decided that she should be tentative when she was around Fred and try to talk to him a bit to see whether or not he was ready to have her around or not. For George, they decided she should act as normal as possible. He, after all, didn't know about her conversation with Ellie. He actually still believed that the fight they had had was because he fancied her and she didn't want him to, which means he could probably really relate to his brother in that moment. She would have to talk to him about it eventually, but she needed to give Fred enough time to get over everything or the situation would never work out. Angelina wanted to use Alicia as an excuse not to sit with the twins in class anymore, but Alicia wouldn't let her and said that she had to sit with them so they could work everything out.

The first day of classes came way to quickly for Angelina and she found herself working her way through McGonagall's classroom towards where Fred and George we sitting at their normal table.

"Hi guys," Angelina said timidly. "Can I join you? If not I can go sit with Alicia." Angelina finished quickly.

George glanced at his brother who looked a little shaken, but then said with a roll of his eyes, "Of course you can, Angelina."

The class went pretty well. It was probably the best class they could have had together because McGonagall did not permit any side chatter in her class. It was even harder to be around George than she had thought it would be. She felt ashamed, but she was still thinking about making things work with George even as she was supposed to be smoothing things over with Fred. Angelina decided she just would have to avoid George as much as possible until everything blew over.

Over the course of the week things got a little bit back to normal. At least Katie and Alicia were able to get Angelina to go to the Great Hall for meals and Fred was speaking a little more to her every day. One thing that didn't change was Angelina avoiding George. He was continuously trying to get her to talk to him, but she tried her hardest to stay away from him.

That first Friday Angelina was making her way back to the common room after dinner when she was cornered by a twin. By the expression on his face it was easy to tell it was George. He opened the door behind her and gestured towards it. "Go on," he said when she hesitated, "I have been trying to talk to you all week and you have been avoiding me. Well, we are going to talk now so go on inside or I will carry you in myself." His mischievous grin told her he would definitely follow through with his threat. She dragged her feet as she made her way into the room with George following closely behind her. She didn't turn back towards him even after she heard the door close.

"Why the bloody hell are you avoiding me, Angelina?" George demanded of her when he realized she wasn't going to be the first to speak.

"I haven't been avoiding you," she said in her best attempt at a lie. She turned and looked and him and could easily tell he didn't believe her.

"You are a liar. And not a very good one either," he said with a laugh. "I talked to Ellie."

Angelina expression froze in one of pure horror. She wasn't prepared for this conversation. She had expected to have the upper hand when this topic was brought up, but here it was without any warning what so ever. This topic needed at least 3 more weeks of planning with Katie and Alicia. If not then she would end up screwing the whole thing up. But at this point she didn't seem to have an option.

When she didn't say anything George continued. "Where you planning on talking to me about it?"

"Yes," she said, getting defensive, "but I figured it would be better to wait until the whole thing with Fred blew over. You know. Your brother that was my best friend until I led him on and broke his heart?" she said bitterly. "I assume he told you about that."

"Yeah, he did," George said, looking down and adopting a slightly guilty expression. "But I still want to talk about it. Don't you?"

"Well, yes. But I didn't even know if you still felt the same."

George walked a bit closer to her and put a finger under her chin, forcing her to look up at him. "I do, Ange," he told her, making her shiver from his stare alone. Then his expression changed and he started laughing. Angelina was completely lost as to how the conversation was progressing.

"What is wrong with you?" she asked him, partly curious and partly annoyed that he would burst out laughing right after he had told her he liked her.

"I'm sorry," he said after composing himself a little "I just think it is hilarious that you thought I was interested in Samantha Wilson of all people!"

"Well I was told you asked her to the ball!" Angelina said beginning to laugh too. "Which, if I remember correctly you did!"

"Hey, that was a joke that was taken completely the wrong way," George said while still laughing.

"Yeah, yeah. We could have worked this out a long time ago if we weren't both such bloody idiots," Angelina told him.

"Yes, but we were, so what are we going to do now."

"What can we do?" she asked him. "We definitely can't begin dating. It would kill Fred. Neither of us would do that to him."

"I agree completely."

"So what does that mean for us then?"

"I guess we just wait it out. Fred will eventually move on and then he will be happy for us. But if we started dating now then Fred would end up being twinless by his own doing."

"And no twin should have to be twinless," Angelina said with a little laugh.

"So we will stay just friends for now and pretty soon, once everything blows over, we will figure it all out."

"Okay," Angelina said, but she couldn't help but feel skeptical. It seemed that there was always something in the way of them being together. She just knew that in a few months George would have moved on just like Fred onto someone who didn't come with so much baggage. George was heading to the door when he realized she wasn't following. He turned back and seemed to read her thoughts. He walked back over to her and took her hand.

"My feelings for you aren't going to change, Ange," he told her as he stared back at her worried lined face. "I fell for you during first year when you hexed that big Slytherin who caught us playing a prank on them. I'll be able to handle a few months of waiting if you are in it with me."

Angelina was happier in that moment then she had ever been. "Of course I'm with you," she told him, beaming back up at him.

George bent down and barely brushed his lips against hers. That half second contact sent shocks up and down her spine. "Come on. We should get back to the common room. Everyone is going to be wondering where we are," George said, leading her back out of the room and into months of waiting.

**So I had originally planned to have Fred and Angelina date for a bit but then while I was writing it it just didn't feel right. I feel like if they had actually dated Fred would have fallen hard for her and that would have caused lots of problems with George and Angelina's relationship later. Let me know what you guys thought about the chapter and if you think I should have given Fred and Angelina more of a relationship. Remember...the more reviews a get the faster I will update! Thanks! **


	9. Chapter 9 Year's End

**YAY for the new Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince!!!! Thanks so much for the people who have reviewed. Here is the new chapter so please review if you like it. It is really encouraging to get any feedback whatsoever. Thanks guys!**

Angelina fought her way through the crowd standing on Platform 9 and ¾. It was hard for her to believe that she had actually finished her 6th year at Hogwarts and was left with only one more before she was going to have to actually do something with her life. After struggling for a few more minutes she gave up and climbed on top of her truck in an attempt to see her parents. Since she was so tall she only needed the little extra height provided by the trunk in order to see over everyone's heads.

"Angie!!!"

She cringed slightly at the nickname that she hadn't been able to get her mother to drop since she was a child and turned behind her to see her parents about 15 feet away flailing their arms in the air. While they did embarrass her at times, she couldn't deny that seeing them was a relief after a difficult year at school. Angelina got off her trunk and began working her way to her parents.

"Mum, how many times so I have to tell you I hate that name Angie," was the first thing that Angelina said to her parents as she dragged her trunk up beside them.

"If I stopped using the nickname it would ruin this wonderful little tradition we have going of you yelling at me before even saying hello to your poor, deserted mum," Mrs. Johnson said before pulling her daughter into a tight hug. "I have missed you so much."

"I've missed you too," Angelina said relishing in the familiar feel of the hug. Once her mother finally let go of her she turned and launched herself at her father. "Daddy!"

"Hello Beauty," Mr. Johnson said as he embraced his little girl, using his own private nickname for her.

"Why is it that you get that reaction while I get yelled at?" Mrs. Johnson said with a little laugh.

"Maybe, Mum, it is because he calls me Beauty while you insist on calling me Angie," she said, cringing again at the name. "That name is bloody awful!"

"Language, Angelina," her mother said half-heartedly, knowing even as she said the words they would have no effect on her daughter's choice of words.

"Yeah, sorry, mum," Angelina said back with just as little enthusiasm. It was obviously an exchange that the two had often.

"Are you ready to go, Angelina?" Mr. Johnson asked as he pulled her trunk closer to them.

"In a moment," she told them, already walking back into the crowd and leaving them staring after her.

After another ten minutes of fighting through the people on the platform she found who she was looking for. Lee, Katie, and Alicia were standing in a small group while their gazes flickered all over the platform.

"Over here!" Lee yelled when he saw Angelina a little ways away.

"Merlin," Angelina said as she finally reached her friends. "This place is impossible to maneuver. Where are Fred and George?"

"Not sure," Lee said. "They were with us a second ago but they ran over to their mum and dad to drop off their trunks. They will be back soon."

Right as he said that a pair of arms slipped around his waist and a face appeared resting on his shoulder. "Well those blokes better hurry it up," Ellie said as she gave Lee a quick kiss on his cheek. "My parents don't come through the portal since they are Muggles. The idea of walking through a wall freaks them out no matter how many years in a row I do it. They will think they are at the wrong place if we don't come through soon."

Ellie and Lee had begun dating not long after the Yule Ball. While Samantha had set her up with him just so she would have a friend with her at the dance they actually hit it off pretty well. Nothing happened at the ball, but they started spending a lot of time together "just as friends" Lee would say but within the next month Lee sat the whole group down at breakfast because he had something important to tell them.

"Ellie and I have started dating."

"Really?" Angelina said, laying on the sarcasm.

"I would never have seen that coming," George continued.

"Damn," Fred said. "I was going to ask her to Hogsmeade next weekend. You know, Valentine's Day and all." Angelina and George sent a glance to each other quickly, both knowing they couldn't spend Valentine's Day together.

"What the bloody hell? You were going to put the moves on her?" Lee was furious.

"Calm down, mate. That was a joke. We all have known since the ball that you fancy her. You just had to get the balls to do something about it. Plus, I don't plan on asking anyone to Hogsmeade for Valentine's Day," Fred said looking down at his plate awkwardly. They all knew the reason but were trying their hardest to ignore it. Angelina had been trying to stay out of his way while still remaining his friend, but finding the balance was proving to be difficult.

After a few seconds of dreadfully awkward silence the group was saved by Ellie plopping down next to Lee. "Morning everyone," she said cheerily, completely unaware of what had just passed. Luckily, her mood was just what Fred needed to stop him from thinking about the events of the ball. Sitting across from Ellie, he leaned forward and caught her eye with a very serious expression.

"Hello Miss Lewis. We have recently been informed of certain events and must say we are not yet prepared to bestow our approval," he said without breaking a smile.

"Oh, sod off, Fred, right?" she said with a small smile. She felt more confident when Lee nodded that she was right. "We all know you absolutely adore me."

"I understand his concerns, Ellie," George said seriously. "What exactly are you intentions with our Lee?"

"I'm sorry, sir, but my intentions would not make for proper table talk," she said back with a wink. That was something none of them at the table were expecting, not even Ellie. They all burst out laughing at how forward the statement was, especially for a girl who was generally on the shy side.

"It is a rare woman who can surprise us like that," George said, giving her a slight bow.

"It's true," Fred said, beaming at his friend's new girlfriend. "Don't botch it up, Lee."

"I'll try," he said, looking at Ellie with a gaze of pure adoration. "I'm sorry to say I have given up on all those other girls. Even you, Angelina!" The whole group laughed, thinking back to his constant badgering of Angelina for a date, especially during the Quidditch matches.

"Merlin, you were obnoxious in your pursuit of her," Alicia said.

"That I was. But those days are long over, my dear," he said turning towards Ellie.

"I know," she said to him. "Plus, I know Angelina isn't a threat," she said, turning her gaze to her with a small conspiratorial smile that no one but Angelina and George would have noticed.

"And why is that exactly?" Lee asked curious.

"Because no way in hell would Angelina go out with you," she said laughing while everyone else joined in.

"Hey, I could get Angelina if I really tried. Before was just a joke."

"Of course you could, sweetheart." Ellie turned her best falsely innocent face on Lee, which just made Lee join in the laughter.

Angelina really liked Ellie. She was no Katie or Alicia, but she was a really nice girl. It seemed that she had been spending less time with Samantha since the ball. Ellie's naturally shy personality made it difficult for her to make friends, so when Samantha accepted her into her clique she was more than happy to be a part of it. Her friendship and then relationship with Lee, a guy who she not only liked in a romantic sense but also as a great friend, gave her more confidence to move outside of Samantha's clique. They were still friends, after all no one could dislike someone as sweet as Ellie, but she had made other friends as well.

Angelina had a few chances to talk to her after the Yule Ball alone, mostly about what was happening with George. They had decided together to not tell anyone about their conversation after the ball. George didn't have anyone to tell since he obviously couldn't talk to Fred about it yet while Angelina didn't want Alicia and Katie constantly questioning her about when it had been long enough for them to finally get together. But Ellie had been the reason they had figured everything out. She noticed that they both fancied each other and tried to help them, even though her friend fancied George. It was nice to be able to talk to someone about it without them always pressuring her for more information. As for Katie and Alicia, they thought she was still holding on to the information Ellie had given her until she felt enough time had passed for them to try again.

After that day Ellie spent even more time with the group. She had a close group of girl friends as well, but she was welcomed by the group whenever she wanted to spend time with them. She was the perfect match for Lee. While the twins needed someone like Angelina who would be able to humble them a bit, Lee needed a girl who felt it was okay to have a few calm moments. She became not only his girlfriend but one of his best friends as well, so it made a lot of sense when he decided he was going to spend the first two weeks of summer living with her family.

"What if I scare your parents and they hate me?" Lee asked with a laugh, though all four girls could tell he was genuinely worried.

"As long as you keep the Weasley's Wizard Wheezes to a minimum you will be fine," she said reassuringly.

The platform was clearing up a bit and all six friends kept glancing at the clock as they talked, knowing that if the twins didn't show up soon they would have to leave without saying goodbye to them for the summer.

"Okay," Lee said. "We are going to ha…"

"WAIT!!!" the group heard the voice interrupt Lee. The voice was shortly followed by the appearance of Fred and George. "You will never believe what just happened," George said excitedly. The group stared at them expectedly, waiting for them to continue.

"Don't you want to guess?" Fred asked.

"We are running late so just tell us," Lee said, not wanting to make a bad impression on Ellie's parents.

"Oh come on. Not one guess from anyone?" George said.

"Fine, you slipped a blast-ended skrewt into Malfoy's trunk," Lee said impatiently.

"No, " Fred said, pausing to picture that scene, "but we'll have to think of a way of doing that."

"Damn it," Lee said. "We really have to go so either tell us or we are leaving."

"Why is it he wants to ruin our fun, Fred?"

"I don't know, George. Maybe we should punish him for his lack of faith."

"If you prats do anything to me before I meet Ellie's parents I will hex you so badly that it will make Angelina's reaction to the purple hair look like a sweet Christmas present."

That certainly got the twins attention. "Fine, show him Fred." Fred threw a bag at Lee who barely caught it since it was significantly heavier than it looked.

Lee peaked inside before looking back up quickly at the twins. "Did Bagman finally pay up or did you steal this?" When he said that comment Angelina snatched the bag from Lee and looked inside to see more money than she had ever seen before.

"Neither," said Fred. "It's Harry's winnings from the tournament. He said he didn't want it because of what it would always make him think of," Fred said quietly as the mood of the conversation quickly changed. The entire group turned suddenly solemn. Not only had one of their classmates died but it represented so much more. They all believed Harry completely that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was back. The Gryffindors knew Harry well enough to know this wasn't something he would make up and Ellie had known Cedric pretty well. It would take a situation as twisted as that one to kill him.

"Yeah, um," George said a little uncomfortably, no doubt feeling guilty. "We are going to use it to officially start up our joke shop."

"And buy Ron some new dress robes," Fred said, which gained him suspicious looks from the entire group. "Harry is making us. It's the one condition for giving us the money."

"Let me know how it goes. I'll come over in a few weeks after I leave Ellie's," Lee said as he gathered up their things and began rushing off to the barrier. "But we really have to go now. Have a great summer everyone."

The rest of the group watched as they couple made their way over to the barrier and walked through. George walked over to Angelina and threw his arm around her shoulders with the familiarity they had spent 6 years establishing. "Well, darling," he said with a wink, "I'm going to need that back." He gently pulled the sack of money out of her hands.

"Of course," she said, a little shaken by the contact, though she quickly recovered herself. "Don't spend it all in one place, boys," she said with a smirk.

"Haha," George said. "We are 5 years old anymore."

"Really?" Alicia said,. "That comment would have totally fooled me."

"Here, take my hand," Katie said, reaching out and grabbing Fred's hand "I'll walk you back to your mummy."

"You lot are going to be eating your jokes when our products are famous," Fred said before repositioning Katie's hand so he could bend to kiss the back of it. "Well, my beautiful ladies, it is time for us to go. But don't worry. We promise not to deprive you of our company for the whole summer."

They were all laughing as they began hugging each other goodbye for the summer. George situated himself so he would give Angelina a hug last. As he gave her a hug he bent down and whispered, "I'll write."

Unfortunately for George and Angelina it seemed that it was going to take a while for Fred to get over what happened between them. George had tried continuously to help him move on, both because of his own selfish reasons and because he wanted Fred to be happy. He threw tons of girls in his path, but none of them seemed to interest him in the slightest. All were interested in him, after all the sense of humor and charm of the two boys were becoming legendary among the girls at Hogwarts, much to Angelina's annoyance. Both George and Angelina were hoping that the summer away from her would help him move on.

George and Angelina had stuck to the promise that they would wait until Fred was ready before becoming a couple. They hadn't even snuck one little kiss besides the one during the talk they had after the ball. It was really hard for Angelina who just wanted to be able to walk up and hold his hand. It was two weeks before they were leaving school and they hadn't mentioned one word about fancying each other since their first talk. Angelina was sitting on George left in History of Magic while Fred was taking a nap on his right. Angelina took this opportunity to try to talk to George about what was going to happen over the summer. She passed him a note to avoid waking Fred or having someone overhear.

_So have you thought about this summer at all? _She wrote

Angelina was surprised when she saw him pull out his wand and mutter something quietly on the paper before scribbling something back to her. She would have sworn he wrote something, but when he placed the parchment back in front of her it was completely blank. Angelina looked back and forth between George and the blank paper before George sighed and grabbed her hand, placing her fingertips on the parchment. Instantly, the writing appeared on the paper.

_Of course I have. I'll try to find someone for him over the summer. Maybe that will help him move on._

_That sounds great,_ Angelina wrote,_ but before I can concentrate on that I have to know what you did to this parchment._ Angelina tossed the note back to him with a curious glance.

_Hah, yeah I guess I could have explained that. Well Fred and I are working on a new product. How it will eventually work is that the buyer will be able to set up the parchment so that it will read something to anyone who tries to read it unless they have the right fingerprints, when it will show what the writer wants them to read. We have the spell down, we just need to figure out how to set it up as a part of the product without having the cast the spell ourselves every time. If anyone else tried to read this but you it would say something along the lines of 'Do you think Binns is trying to turn us all into ghosts too?'_

_Wow, _Angelina wrote, thoroughly impressed by the idea_. This is going to keep so many kids from paying attention in class_.

She heard him chuckle a bit before writing her back, _That's the goal._

_He still hasn't let it go then? _Angelina asked George.

_No. He just needs more time._

_How much more time? It's been months and we never even dated._

_Don't push it Angelina. You are a hard girl to get over. Trust me. I have tried it before. And I am not going to do anything before he is okay with it. Don't make me choose between you and my brother. As much as you mean to me, you still won't like the outcome._

_I would never ask you to choose between us, George. _Angelina wrote, offended that he would think that was what she was doing_, I'm just wondering how much longer we will have to wait._

Over the course of the class they decided that they would just keep things like they were until after the summer. It didn't make any sense for them to start dating over the summer anyways, especially since Fred still somehow wasn't over Angelina. When they got back to school they would reevaluate the situation and see what they should do.

Angelina watched the twins run back across the platform to their enormous family with a sense of longing. It would be three long months before she would see her two favorite people in the world. With a sigh, Angelina turned away from the Weasley family and walked back to where her mother and father were waiting.

~*********~

_A morning like this should be spent on a broom_, Angelina thought as she looked out the window. _Not in Madam Malkin's all day trying on new robes. _"How much longer is this going to take Mum?"

"Relax, Angelina. You are almost done and then we will grab your new books from Flourish and Blotts and be finished, alright?" Mrs. Johnson told her daughter as she watched her squirming while Madam Malkin bolted around her, constantly making adjustments.

After what felt like forever to Angelina, Madam Malkin said that she was finished. Angelina jumped away from the mirror and threw off the new robes. "Here, Mum," she said, tossing the robes at her mother. "I will go get my books while you pay for these and cut our time a bit." Her mother gave her a face that looked incredibly similar to the looks she gave the boys whenever they had a ridiculous idea which made Angelina hurry to make excuses for herself. "I'm sorry, Mum, but I have to get some flying in today. We head back for our last year at Hogwarts in 2 days. I am captain and if I am not prepared there is no way we will win the Quidditch cup this year." The sad face that she gave her mum was just enough to make her agree, staying behind to buy the robes while her daughter ran off to the last store.

Angelina was hurrying through the streets of Diagon Alley looking at her list of books instead of where she was walking. Suddenly, she felt herself run into somebody. She looked up to see an attractive Gryffindor that she recognized from the year beneath her looking down at her, surprised. "Watch yourself there, Angelina," the boy said with a smile.

"Hi," Angelina said with hesitation. "Have we met?"

The boy laughed a bit before answering. "No, you didn't forget me. People usually don't," he said with a wink. Angelina's gag reflexes quickly jumped into action. "I'm Cormac McLaggen. I'm a Gryffindor a year beneath you. I just saw you walking and thought I would introduce myself."

"So you purposely ran into me so that you could introduce yourself? You know, when you do that you are supposed to still at least pretend like it was an accident."

"Either way you are I get to talk, right?" Cormac asked while attempting to pull off a charming smile. He failed miserably. "I've always loved the way you move out on the pitch."

Angelina burst of laughing. Now she understood. The reason the little git was talking to her was because she was the new Quidditch captain. "Hah, I'm actually in a bit of a hurry so I am going to go."

"Well how about I take you out for dinner tonight?" he asked.

"I'm actually going to have to pass on that. You aren't quite my type," _who's type _is_ arrogant toe-rag _she thought. "Thanks anyways," she said turning to leave without waiting to hear what he had to say. "Oh," she said, spinning back around to see a stunned looking Cormac staring into space, "and your attempts at flirting with me aren't going to get you onto the Quidditch team. I'll take the best players regardless of how scummy they are."

Angelina worked the rest of the way to Flourish and Blotts and bought her books quickly, the whole time praying that McLaggen would not be the best player for the position. She glanced around Diagon Alley as she made for way back to her mother but didn't see any of her group of friends. She saw tons of other people she knew, including Ellie, but no Weasleys, Katie, Alicia or Lee. She hadn't seen any of them in weeks since they went flying together, and she was going crazy. She couldn't wait to get back to Hogwarts and away from her parents constantly badgering her. Angelina was disappointed when she and her mother apparated back to their house without seeing one of her friends.

Angelina spent the rest of the day flying and packing up her trunk. She knew that she had all day tomorrow to pack up but she was so bored and had nothing else to do. She was in her room packing sometime shortly after dinner when she heard a tapping on her window. She turned to see Ron's hyper-active owl bobbing up in down next to the window with a letter for her. She opened the window quickly and Pig flew three quick circles around the room before landing on her footboard and continued to hop up and down with his leg stuck out. Angelina grabbed the note and opened it quickly to read it.

_Hey Ange,_ the note said

_How is everything at home? Sorry it has been a few weeks since you have seen us. We have been working like crazy trying to get everything together for our joke shop. On top of that we are living in the middle of the fight against He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and have even started helping a bit. I won't give you any more information for obvious protective reasons. I can't believe that we are starting our last year at Hogwarts. Thank Merlin. I don't know how much more our brains could take. Over the past few weeks Fred and I have gotten to know a girl who works at the Muggle 'magic shop' near us that Fred has been showing his magic tricks to. She is amazed by just how great he is. It's almost like he can actually do magic! I just wanted to let you know that this year is going to be great, everything we all want it to be. There have been some changes over the summer that I think will help make this year perfect. Keep that in mind. I will see you in a few days. I miss you._

_George_

_P.S.: Write back quickly. I took Pig without Ron's permission._

Angelina quickly scribbled down a reply that said she missed him too and was excited for the new year to start. She knew what he was really trying to say in his letter. He thought that Fred was finally over her. They would have to wait and see how he felt after being around her again, but there was at least some hope.

Angelina continued packing for a few more hours before deciding to go to bed for the night. She was fast asleep when she was awoken by the loud pop. Angelina jumped upright in her bed, sitting on her knees while her eyes flashed back and forth across the pitch-black room looking for the source of the noise. Suddenly, she felt a hand placed over her mouth, muffling the scream that she quickly produced. She began failing on the bed, trying to either knock off her attacker or reach her wand. When the person behind noticed her reach towards her bed stand he quickly grabbed her wand before securing her in his grip again. She continued to struggle although it seemed useless. Before Angelina was able to fight off her attacker, she heard another pop, a noise which flooded her with fear, followed by an all together too familiar sensation of being pulled through a tight rubber tube.

**One thing I hope I showed in this chapter was that George did stick by Fred. He talked to Angelina but didn't push Fred too much to get over her. In my mind, Fred and George's relationship is just as strong as ever. So, anyways...yea, reviews would be very very appriciated. Thanks all :-)**


	10. Chapter 10 Final Days

**Hi guys! Thanks so much for the reviews I got on this past chapter...you guys are awesome! :-) I had so much fun writing this chapter so I would really appriciate any feedback you have for me. Here is goes...**

The second Angelina felt her feet hit the ground she used the few unsteady seconds she had to fight her way out of her attackers grip. Once she freed herself she turned in one swift movement and kicked him strait in the groin as hard as she could before bolting away, running faster than she ever had before. As she ran, she heard her attacker yell, "Shit, Angelina!" Recognizing the voice, she turned back to see a familiar head of red hair curled in a ball on the ground.

She walked back over to the Weasley with her arms planted firmly on her waist. That kick to the groin was exactly what he deserved for scaring the life out of her back at her house. "Well what did you expect? You come into my room and kidnap me? You know I have the tendency to fight back," she told him, feeling absolutely no remorse for what she had just done. "So, which one are you?" she asked, although she already figured it was George.

"Fred," he barely succeeded to squeak out as he continued rolling back and forth on the ground.

"Well, Fred," she said, surprised it was him but still more pissed at the situation than anything else, "why exactly did you decide to apparate into my room, which is incredibly rude by the way, and steal me from my own bed?" She settled down next to him on the grass, not knowing how long it would be before he recovered. For the first time she let herself look around where she was. They were sitting in a large, open field. At one end was a forest while the other side ended in a cliff. She could barely make out a building far off on the other side of the clearing right on the cliff's edge. The smell of the ocean hit her as her senses continued to appraise the scenery. It had been so long since she had been near the water, but it was as soothing as ever. She continued to study the beautiful surroundings as Fred sat up a bit.

"We decided we should have a last minute get together before we went back to school. George went to get Alicia and Lee got Katie. They are probably back down by the water right now if you think you can make it all the way down there without assaulting me again."

Angelina just laughed and helped her friend up. "Yeah, sorry about that. But you should have known what was coming."

Fred and Angelina made their way down to the beach where they saw a fire burning and four people spread out around it. "What took you so long?" George yelled to them as they got closer to the group.

"Angelina attacked me and it took me a little while to recover," Fred said, throwing a small glare at her.

"Would you have expected anything less?" she asked, exasperated that he was still so angry. "I'm surprised Katie and Alicia didn't do the same thing to you lot."

"Why exactly would we have attacked them?" Alicia asked.

"You have to be joking! Lee and George didn't kidnap you?"

George and Lee busted out laughing. "Seriously, Fred?" George said to his brother. "Of all the girls you could pull that with you picked Angelina? I'm surprised you are even still breathing."

"Lee just sent an owl up to my window saying he was downstairs and to come with him, no questions," Katie told Angelina, obviously amused by Fred's antics.

"Same with me," Alicia said.

"What exactly did he do to you?" Lee asked in between laughs.

"He apparated into my bloody room, put his hand over my mouth and held me from getting to my wand before grabbing it himself and apparating us here. Where even is here? And where is my wand?" Angelina asked.

"First of all, here is you bloody wand?" Fred said, chucking it at her before sitting down between Lee and Katie. Angelina went and sat between Alicia and George across the fire from him. "Secondly, see the building up on the cliff?" When Angelina nodded he continued, "That's Shell Cottage. Our brother Bill is looking into buying it. I don't really know why. He says he would like to live here someday with his family, but he isn't even dating someone yet that we know of. Anyways, when he told us about it we thought it would be a great place for a little get together."

"Nice choice. This place is beautiful," Katie said, laying flat on her back and looking up at the stars. "I can't believe that another year of Hogwarts is about to start."

"Yeah, our last year," Fred said.

"Please don't say that," Katie said, sitting up and glancing over at Fred. She quickly adopted a smile, but the fear of losing her friends after the next year was easily visible to anyone who knew her well.

"Don't worry," Fred said, moving over a bit to nudge her. "We will always be around to give you a hard time."

Katie's smile became a little more genuine at that. "On the other hand, maybe you graduating isn't such a bad thing."

"I guess I should take advantage of the time I have then," Fred said with a mischievous look. Katie automatically adjusted herself away from him a little, moving onto her knees.

"Fred," she said warily. The next second he pounced at her, giving her barely enough time to get away from him, even with the reflexes she had honed so well over the years of Quidditch practice. The other four friends watched as Fred chased her off down the coast, eventually catching her and pulling her into the ocean waves. Angelina laughed as she watched her best friends attempting to dunk each other.

"So, where is Ellie?" Angelina asked, turning back to the fire and looking across at Lee.

"We decided to just keep it the regular group," Lee said with a smile.

"Is everything okay with you guys?" Angelina asked, worried that something might have changed during the few weeks he stayed with her.

"Oh, yeah. Everything is perfect. We just thought it would be nice to have it be just the group that has been together for so long. You know, the last few days of summer and all. After tomorrow we will never have a summer like this again," he said with a sad smile.

The next moment they all heard a sloshing noise and turned to see Katie making her way towards them. "Get your arses up and in the water," Katie said as she ran up to the group, sopping wet from her battle with Fred. The group quickly jumped up and started to make their way over to the water. It was right about at the edge of the water that Angelina noticed everyone but her had on a bathing suit.

"Damn, I don't have a bathing suit," Angelina said as everyone started running into the water.

"Why didn't you bring one?" George asked, seeming to have forgotten the events that led to her arrival at Shell Cottage.

"I don't know," Angelina said sarcastically before raising her voice so Fred, who was farther out in the water could hear. "Maybe because someone didn't give me a chance to do anything before forcing me here."

Fred just laughed and yelled back, "Hey, you could also just go in your birthday suit."

"You wish Weasley," she yelled back with a laugh.

"It sounds good to me," George said quietly to her with a wink, making her blush.

"Hah, I'm sure it does. You guys just go in. I'll hang out here."

"You aren't getting off that easily," George said before snatching her up and throwing her over his shoulder. Angelina tried to hold back her laughter, unsuccessfully, as she fought to get away from George and the water. Angelina felt her toes touch the water before George resituated her so that he was holding her bridal style, dangling her right above the water. "Are you ready?" he asked, laughing and bouncing her up and down.

"Do what you want," she said with a devious smile. "But whatever you do, I'm taking you down with me."

"Fair enough," he said, raising one eyebrow before plunging them into the waves together. The two broke the surface at about the same time, laughing and detangling themselves from the other. "That wasn't so bad, was it?" George asked Angelina.

"Huh, I guess not," Angelina said. "Why don't you try it again and let me know?" she asked with a wicked smile before placing her hands on his shoulders and pushing him back under the water. She thought she had the upper hand for about a millisecond before she felt George wrap his arms around her legs and flip her forward over his shoulder. This continued for about five minutes before both were exhausted and made their way back over to where Alicia, Katie, Fred, and Lee with playing in the waves.

"I hadn't noticed how cute your pajamas were, Angelina," Fred said with laugh as Angelina walked over in her soaked clothes while everyone else was in their bathing suits.

"Well, when I thought what swimming attire I wanted to wear tonight this was the first thing that sprang into my mind," she said with a smile back. "But as lovely as this is, I think I am going to go back over by the fire." She was trying desperately to keep her heavy pajama bottoms from slipping down. "As close as we all have been over the years I still have no desire to lose my bottoms in front of you lot."

"I'll join you in a second," Katie told her friend as she edged her way over to Fred. "I just have a bit of business to take care of." The five friends went back to battling as Angelina worked her way to the fire. She quickly grabbed her wand to dry her clothes before making herself comfortable on the sand. She sat there, taking in the serenity of the spot and the laughter of her friends when she was hit with a sudden fear concerning the next year. Thinking about the past six years made her realize just how quickly they had gone. Before she knew it she would be out in the real world. That idea terrified her just as much as any talk about You-Know-Who.

As she was contemplating her future, George walked up from the waves and settled down next to her. "You seem pensive. What are you thinking about?"

"Just how crazy it is that within the next year we will be graduated and working at real jobs. I just can't believe how quickly it has gone."

The rest of the group walked up just in time to hear the last of what Angelina was saying. She could tell from the looks on their faces that they were just as scared as she was.

"We can't think about that right now," Fred said in an attempt to keep up the cheery mood. "Do you know what we should do though? Plan a trip for the end of next year."

"Something huge," George said, getting just as excited as his brother.

"To celebrate the fact that we actually finished school," Fred continued with a grin.

"That is if you two don't get kicked out by then," Lee said with a laugh.

"And Katie is to come as well," Angelina said, sending a comforting smile across the fire to her best friend.

"Well, of course," Fred said, tossing his arm across her shoulders. "This trip will be for the whole group. Even if one is a little baby."

"Sod off," Katie said, but she was obviously pleased that she was included in the trip.

"So where should be go?" Alicia asked.

"How about Australia?" Lee asked. "My cousin went there when he graduated a few years back and said it was a great time."

Katie shrugged at the idea, "It sounds like it, but why don't we stay a little bit closer. I still will be in school so I doubt my parents will let me go that far away with you lot, especially knowing what you all get up to."

"So I guess that means India is out of the question?" Angelina asked. "I have wanted to go there for as long as I can remember. Everything about the country is so fascinating."

"Yeah, sorry," Katie said. "Same deal."

The whole group sat in contemplative silence, thinking about where they would most like to go. Suddenly, Fred bolted upright with a look of pure delight on his face. "We could go to Italy."

"Yeah," George said, quickly becoming equally as excited. "Bill made some friends from there when he was working as a curse breaker."

"Italy would actually be really nice," Alicia said in obvious approval of this proposal.

They all talked for hours, discussing everything they wanted out of the trip and assigning responsibilities to each person. Finally, when the sun was beginning to rise, Lee and George put out the now tiny fire they were huddled around.

"We can't leave yet," Angelina said as they all stood up to head back home. "We have been here all night. An extra half hour can't hurt to stay and watch the sun rise." The rest of the group agreed and settled back down against the edge of the cliff to watch the sun slowly inched its way up in the sky. Angelina sat and watched as the sky turned brilliant pink and purple before it became its regular blue hue. No moment in her life had ever been as perfect.

~*********~

Angelina was awoken the next morning to the sound of tapping. She reluctantly opened her eyes to see a familiar owl pecking at the glass. She jumped out of bed and ran across the room to open her window. The owl landed on her arm and lifted his leg with the letter connected to it.

_Hey Angelina, _the letter read.

_Last night was so much fun, but it made me think about how we haven't had a day just us all summer. That being said, I will be flooing over at noon and we are going to lunch. If there is anything else you want to do we can do that as well. If you had any other plans for today, cancel them. After this year you will be leaving me, so you will be playing with me today. Okay? Great. See you in a bit._

_Katie_

Angelina felt an intense wave of love for her best friend. Katie was right, they hadn't spent much time just the two of them in a while. Alicia was so infused as part of the group now that she was always with them. While both of them loved Alicia, it was strange to have a third person after years of being just the two of them. Angelina looked at the clock to see that she had a little less than two hours to get everything she needed to in order before Katie arrived. She ran to tell her mum her plans for the day and started getting ready for her official last day of summer.

An hour and fifty-five minutes later, Katie appeared in Angelina's fireplace to be greeted by the whole family.

"Nice note," Angelina said as she hugged her.

Katie laughed, "Well it got the point across, right?"

They decided to get a quick lunch at the Leaky Cauldron before grabbing an ice cream from Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour, a place that had been a major part of their summer's together when they were younger.

"Well at least some things won't ever change," Angelina said with a laugh as she watched her friend struggling with a new stain from her chocolate ice cream cone. Angelina couldn't remember a time throughout their entire friendship when Katie ate an ice cream without getting some of it on herself.

"Yes, but now I have a wonderful best friend who is of age and can fix this for me," Katie said with a grin. Angelina quickly performed a cleaning spell to get rid of the spot. "Thanks," Katie said. "What am I supposed to do without you next year?"

"You'll be alright."

"I have no other friends besides you five. My seventh year will be horrible." It was the first time that Katie showed just how nervous she was about her friends graduating. Angelina leaned forward, trying to get Katie to look at her.

"You have never had any trouble meeting people, unlike me who is completely social incompetent," she said, which received a laugh, though no protest, from Katie. "And it isn't like you are going to lose us once we leave. We can come and meet up with you on some of the Hogsmeade days. And Merlin knows I will have to write you daily to tell you the newest stupid thing I have done. And in one short year you will be out with us."

Katie seemed a bit reassured by Angelina. "Now that I think about it, I should be more worried about you being around people without me than anything else." Angelina just laughed and agreed. "At least everything seems to be back to normal with you and Fred."

"Yeah," Angelina said, thinking about how the night before had gone. "He was great last night."

"I am starting to get how you can tell them apart though," Katie said.

"Really?" Angelina asked.

"Sure, they are so similar, but they do have little things that are dead giveaways to who they each are." Angelina was surprised by this. Katie had known them for nearly as long as Angelina and was just noticing these things now. "So if Fred is actually over you does that mean you are finally going to tell George that your fight was a big misunderstanding?"

Angelina had forgotten that she hadn't told Katie and Alicia about her talk with George. She decided that it would be much better to fill her in than to lie to her. "Well, actually, we kind of already talked."

"What?!" Katie yelled, both in shock and anger. Angelina proceeded to give her all the details, and asked that she didn't say anything to anyone, including Alicia. She was afraid that if anyone else knew that it might get back to Fred before they could figure everything out.

"Wow. I can't believe you held this in that long. I mean, that is big news."

"Yeah, I know," Angelina said while thinking back on how hard it had been that second semester of school not telling her best friends.

After a while of shopping, Angelina and Katie decided to head back to her house to have some tea and talk for a bit longer before Katie had to get home. They were sitting around her kitchen table talking when there was a knock on her front door. Angelina opened it to see a Weasley twin smiling back at her.

"Hello, love," Fred said with a wink and a smile. "Not interrupting anything, am I?"

"No, come one in. I'm just having a chat with Katie."

"Oh, well, I was actually hoping to talk to you, if that's alright," he said, now looking a bit nervous.

Katie came around the corner just as she heard him say this. "That's alright, Angelina," she said "I need to head home to finish packing anyways. Thanks for hanging out with me today. I'll see you tomorrow, Fred."

"Wait, we didn't say my name. Can you tell us apart as well?"

"I'm getting better," She said with a smile as she walked backwards towards the fireplace before stepping in and calling out her home.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" Angelina asked as she gestured for him to sit on the couch.

Sitting down across from her, Fred said, "Well, I kind of just wanted to clear the air about last year. You were right."

"What?" Angelina asked, confused by what he was saying.

"After I kissed you. You said that if we dated it would only be because we were so comfortable with each other. I thought then that I actually fancied you, but over this summer I have come to realize that it was just that you are my best mate besides George. Most other girls at Hogwarts are so empty headed that they are much more appealing as punch lines than as girlfriends, so I clung to you. I'm sorry."

"You have no reason to apologize," Angelina said, surprised by all he was saying but happy that it was all over. "Is it okay if I ask what brought this all about?"

"I think a big part of it is that I wasn't around you for most of the summer and it gave me time to really think about it. It was more that my pride was hurt when you turned me down than anything else. But then, last night when we were all together I realized that I don't have any feelings for you. I mean, don't get me wrong, you are definitely attractive," he said in a rush, "you just aren't the one for me. I'm starting to realize that you aren't the only pretty girl in the world who I get on well with." He seemed to be lost in thought for a brief moment before continuing. "So are we alright?"

"Of course!" she said before hopping up and throwing her arms around his neck. The second she did that, however, she jumped back up and took a step away. "I'm sorry," she said.

Fred just laughed. "It's okay. I can handle hugging you. It doesn't make me feel anything." He gathered her back in a hug. Angelina snuggled into the familiar embrace, happy to have her best friend back. After a minute he pulled back and looked at her. "So," he asked with a devilish grin, "How long have you been in love with my brother?"

Angelina's entire body froze. She couldn't have this conversation with him. This was something Fred and George needed to talk about first. "I don't know what you are talking about," she managed to sputter out, though it was thoroughly unconvincing.

"Oh, come on, Angelina," he said, giving her a look that showed just how easily he saw through her. "You are a terrible liar to begin with, but you know you have never be able to lie to me."

Under his inquisitive stare she couldn't help but tell the truth. "Um, maybe two months into first year," she said with a grimace.

"Seriously?" he said. He was obviously surprised that it had been that long. "I can't believe I never noticed it before."

"What made you notice it now?"

"Last night. I could easily tell by the way you looked at each other."

"Wait, this isn't why you are talking to me about last year, is it?" Angelina didn't want him to give them his permission just because he felt bad. She wanted him to actually be okay with it.

"Yeah, it is why I came to talk to you, but everything I said was true. I wanted you to know that there aren't any feelings there, I'm not sure if there ever even was, so you have no reason to feel guilty about your feelings for George."

Angelina felt so relieved. Everything was working out for her. Angelina gave Fred another tight squeeze before he got up to head back to the Burrow. She had barely made her way back to the couch when she heard another knock on the door. She hurried over, opening it to see Fred standing there. "Did you forget something?"

She barely got her sentence out before she was pulled into a hug, lifted off the floor and spun around. As they twirled in circles she heard him say, "He is okay with it." She felt her heart swell as she realized it wasn't Fred this time. George placed her back on the ground and pulled back, looking deep into her eyes before pulling her back to him and into the most passionate kiss she could have ever imagined.


	11. Chapter 11 The new and the old

**Hey guys. I had a bit of trouble writing this chapter. I didn't get many reviews from the last chapter, so that was discouraging. Let me know if you like this, otherwise I might just wrap this story up and move on to another one. Thanks so much to those who have been reviewing. Here goes...**

"To our newcomers, welcome! To our old hands-welcome back! There is a time for speech making, but this is not it. Tuck in!"

Angelina turned her attention away from the front table and back to the table directly in front of her as the food appeared. It was obvious from the atmosphere of the Great Hall that everyone was happy to finally be back at Hogwarts. Though the end of the previous year was frightening, Hogwarts still provided a great sense of security for all the students.

"Who is that?" Angelina heard George asked as he nudged her to turn her attention back up to the professors. She quickly spotted the person he was undoubtedly referring to. Directly next to Dumbledore sat a woman who none of them had ever seen. She looked very similar to a squashed toad and was wearing the most ridiculously outfit made of bright pink material. As Angelina continued to appraise her, she could tell more and more that this new woman would not be a welcome addition to the Hogwarts staff.

"Bloody hell, that can't be the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, can it?" Fred asked.

"No idea," Angelina said. "She doesn't look much like a dark wizard hunter to me." The friends continued discussing the new addition to the Hogwarts staff for much of the remaining meal, breaking away from the topic a few times to discuss Quidditch and the likes. It wasn't long before the hall was silenced by the towering figure of Dumbledore. He proceeded with his typical speech, pausing when he brought up the areas that were off limits to students to send an accusatory glance towards the six Gryffindor seventh years. The group shared a quick smile, appreciating the glance as their own little tradition that had begun in their second year once Dumbledore and the rest of the staff had realized their special talent for trouble-making.

"Try-outs for the House Quidditch teams will take place on the –"Dumbledore abruptly stopped speaking, something that any person who had experienced one of his opening year speeches knew didn't happen. It took a moment before anyone realized that the pompous looking toad lady was actually standing, ready to speak to the students.

This new professor, Umbridge, started on a speech that she had obviously rehearsed extensively, though it was thoroughly dull. She did not have any of the intriguing qualities that allowed the headmaster to retain the attention of the students year after year. Instead, Angelina slowly started facing away from Professor Umbridge and more towards the boys who had their heads together, already plotting their first strike of the year. She only caught glimpses, but their conversations seemed to be made up wholly of words and phrases like _pushover, products, _and _testing on first years_. Umbridge continued to drone on and on without the attention of any of the students.

"Pst,"

Angelina looked up and down the table to see who was making that noise. She looked back down the table away from her friends and the head table to see a smug looking Cormac McLaggen smiling at her flirtatiously. She simply raised an eyebrow at him before her attention back to her friends. The news of her new relationship with George had obviously yet to reach his ears, but she was certain that his interest in her was simply based on the belief that giving her a good snog would earn him a place on the Quidditch team.

"Who is that bloke making eyes at you?" Katie asked quietly as Umbridge continued to draw out her painfully long speech.

"Oh, his name is Cormac McLaggen. He is under the impression that since the captain of the Quidditch team this year is a girl that he will be able to flirt his way on."

Katie started laughing much louder than she should have; making the entire area around her turn to see what was going on. Luckily, it seemed that Umbridge was far too involved in her speech to hear anything more. Angelina briefly turned her attention to the front of the room to hear her say something that sounds strangely like 'prohibited'.

"Did you guys hear that?" Angelina asked the rest of the group.

"Hear what?" Fred asked, having been more successful at tuning out every word said by Umbridge.

"She said something about prohibiting something but I wasn't paying attention."

"Since when has something being prohibited stopped us?" George asked with a laugh.

Angelina just laughed and leaned into her boyfriend, who casually threw his arm around her shoulders as Dumbledore resumed his speech. She snuggled a bit into his side; taking a moment to think about how wonderful it was to finally be able to call him her boyfriend. Alicia, Katie, and Lee had been completely shocked to find out they were together when they all met up on platform 9 ¾ earlier that day. Angelina decided that it would be much more fun to not tell them and simply let them figure it out for themselves. She was already with them all on the platform when Fred and George walked up to the group. George threw his arm over her shoulders just like always, but also leaned in to give her a quick kiss and saying, "Morning, Ange."

All of them just froze, glancing back and forth between Angelina, George, and Fred. "Did we miss something?" Lee asked when none of them acknowledged that this was weird, looking incredibly suspicious.

"I don't know, sweetheart," George said, barely containing his laughter, "What do you think?"

"Nothing really comes to mind, darling," she answered back.

"Since when have you two been together?!" Alicia exclaimed. She couldn't believe that it all happened without her knowing anything. Angelina could see from her face that she was equally excited and furious with Angelina for keeping it secret.

"Just yesterday afternoon," Angelina said, laughing at her reaction. "I promise. It isn't like we have been together all summer and I didn't tell you. I could have sent you an owl yesterday, but it was only a little bit longer for you to wait and this way I got to see your face."

"Well, it's about time," Ellie said.

"Wait," Lee said, turning to his girlfriend. "What do you mean, 'it's about time'?"

"Come on. You must be daft if you didn't notice that they fancied each other."

Lee didn't have anything to say back to that. He simply stared off into space as if he was analyzing the past few years for any clues. She later overheard him asking Fred if he was okay with it, but he just laughed him off, telling him that he was the one who orchestrated the match.

Angelina glanced across the table to where Katie, Lee, and Fred were sitting, all paying attention to Dumbledore although they were obviously ready to head back to the dorms. Dumbledore finished his welcome back speech and everyone rose to head to bed.

"I'm going to run and say goodnight to Ellie," Lee said as he worked his way away from them and over to the Hufflepuff table.

"You're a bloody woman," Fred and George yelled after their friend in unison before turning to head out of the Great Hall. They had only gone a few steps when someone approached them.

"Hi Alicia." They all turned to see Daniel Weathers standing in front of the group looking like a lost puppy dog. Immediately Fred and George jumped forward, shooting him stares that would have made You-Know-Who cower.

"What do you want, Weathers?" George asked in the most threatening voice he could muster, moving himself over next to Alicia.

"I want to talk to Alicia," Daniel said angrily to George before glancing helplessly back at her.

"You had three months to do that," Fred, who had made him way around the table to where his brother was guarding Alicia, spat back at him.

Alicia stepped up and put a hand on each of the twins back. The look she gave them was both grateful and a warning. After the Yule Ball, where it had seemed that Daniel and Alicia had hit it off brilliantly, the two spent a good amount of time together. Nothing more happened then a few snogging sessions, but Alicia had developed strong feelings for him. After everything that happened at the end of the previous year they never found time to discuss what they were exactly. Alicia had spent the first month of summer waiting anxiously to hear something from him and the second half trying to hide her puff, red eyes from her best friends.

"It's fine. I'll meet you in the common room," she said with a small smile to the group before they reluctantly left her in the company of Daniel. Angelina and Alicia shared the briefest of looks that said she would fill her in when Fred and George weren't around. After all, they were far too protective of their girl friends.

Later that night, after their traditional night back pow-wow, Angelina lay awake in bed thinking about what the year would be like. She was finally Quidditch captain, something she had been working towards for her entire time at Hogwarts. They were also the oldest in the school, a prospect that was both exciting and terrifying. One thing, however, had left her very unsettled. The attitude of the new professor could not be good. The way she forced a pause in Dumbledore speech, the air of superiority, the mention of prohibition; everything about the woman screamed trouble for the entire school, especially her friends who thrived on misbehaving. She now wished she had paid attention to her speech, though she doubted she could have even if she had tried. Fred and George had told her several times that they were only coming back to their last year of Hogwarts to appease their mum. Their only goal was to keep her happy while doing 'research' as they called it for their company. How would this new, obviously up-tight teacher take to them?

~*********~

The next morning, Angelina grabbed Alicia as she was about to escape to the Great Hall for breakfast.

"Where the hell do you think you are going?" Angelina asked as Alicia tried to quietly open their door.

"Well, typically, when I wake up in the morning I grab a quick breakfast before heading to a long day of enriching my mind," she said with a cheeky grin.

"Are you planning on telling me what happened with Daniel last night?"

"I am," she said with a sigh. "Can we please just go get some food and I will give you the highlights on the way down? I don't want to talk about it too much."

They stopped into the 6th year room to grab Katie before heading downstairs. On their walk Alicia explained what happened. "Well, the stupid git told me that he was freaked out by everything that happened at the end of the year. He said that the idea of You-Know-Who being back scared him to death and that he lost track of everything that meant something to him," Alicia rolled her eyes, but Angelina could see a bit of the excitement behind her flippant façade. "He then told me that when he saw me sitting in the Great Hall he realized what a bloody idiot he had been and that he would do anything to have another shot with me."

"What did you say to that?" Katie asked.

"I said, 'We'll see.'" Alicia said with a small smile, obviously happy with how she handled the situation.

"So he pretty much confessed his love to you and you told him 'We'll see'?" Angelina asked, shocked at her normally timid friends reaction.

"Do you think I was too harsh?" Alicia asked, suddenly worried.

"No!" Angelina exclaimed. "I think you were brilliant! He has to prove himself to you."

"Okay, good. That's what I thought too," Alicia said as she visibly relaxed from her friends' approval. They were nearly to the Great Hall when someone interrupted their conversation and forced them to stop walking.

"Good morning, Angelina," McLaggen said with an arrogant smile. "And to both of you as well," he said as an afterthought to Alicia and Katie.

"Alicia, Katie, this is Cormac McLaggen. McLaggen, this is Katie Bell and Alicia Spinnet," Angelina said with no enthusiasm.

"Of course," McLaggen said, now adding on even more charm to the three chasers. "And I would very much like for you to call me Cormac."

"McLaggen will be just fine," Angelina said dryly.

McLaggen just gave a little laugh like she had bestowed a great compliment on him. He had obviously spent a good deal of time around politicians. "Have you thought any more about that dinner I asked you about before?"

"First of all, I already told you I am not going to let you on the team just for taking me to dinner. I would kick my own _boyfriend_ off the team if he weren't the best," she said, putting extra emphasis on the word boyfriend.

"Give me a chance," he said, leaning in a bit, obviously not catching the hint. "You might just find you like me."

"What part of BOYFRIEND do you not get?"

"Come on, Angelina, I know you don't have a boyfriend."

"As a matter of fact, she does," George said as he put his arm around her shoulders protectively.

"You are dating Weasley?" he asked, obviously stunned.

"Yes, McLaggen. That's what I have been trying to tell you."

"And if you want any chance of getting onto the Quidditch team I would suggest you stay a safe distance away from Angelina," Fred said with a laugh as he walked up to the scene. "George may be the nice twin, but he is bloody protective of that one there."

McLaggen looked disgruntled, but turned and walked away without another word. Angelina looked up and smiled at George. "Were you jealous?" she asked while trying to hide her laughter.

George just started laughing as he steered them into the Great Hall. "Not of that wanker."

~*********~

Angelina was flying as quickly as she could, tossing the Quaffle back and forth between her two best friends before Katie let out a wicked shot. It easily flew past the tiny third year. Angelina would give anything to have Harry here for tryouts. She had planned for him to fill in for her as chaser so she could watch each play to better see the strengths and weaknesses of each player. While several people had come out for the team it didn't seem as though any of them had even close to the talent of Wood. Angelina had some of the best Quidditch players ever to play at Hogwarts on her team, but without a decent Keeper they had no chance of winning the cup. Angelina blew her whistle to signal for everyone to head back to the ground. Once there she situated herself in front of the students who were hoping for a spot on the team.

"Thank you all for coming," Angelina said. "This is a hard decision, and something I want to talk over for a moment with my team. If you all wouldn't mind getting changed and putting your brooms away before meeting back here, we will talk and tell you all our decision when you come back." There was a murmur from the students as they made their way off the pitch and off towards the locker room. The second they were out of hearing range she turned back to her team. "What the hell?"

"I was hoping for an undefeated season to finish off my last year at Hogwarts," Alicia said as she stared woefully at the retreating students.

"Well, let's get to it," Angelina said. "I have already narrowed it down to three best flyers. Vicky Frobisher, Geoffrey Hooper, and Ron. What do you lot think?"

"Really?" Fred asked, obviously shocked by her choices. "You are considering Ron?"

"Yes, he was one of the best, though I admit that isn't saying much. I'm surprised McLaggen wasn't here. I wonder if he would have been better."

"Georgie here must have scared him off," Fred said, patting his brother on the back with a laugh.

"Or maybe it was never Quidditch he was interested to begin with," George said with a murderous look up towards that castle. "Anyways, back on track. I thought Vicky was by far the best."

"But she is so busy," Alicia said. "I know for a fact that she would put several things before Quidditch."

"I can't have someone like that on my team. If I have to schedule around her other activities I'll have to do it for everyone," Angelina said, mentally drawing a line through her name on the list. "So that leaves Hooper and Ron."

"I can't believe I am going to say this, but we really should go with Ron," George said. "Hooper is a little git who will complain about the crazy training schedule we all know you are going to put out for us." George was right about that. Angelina was determined to win the Quidditch cup. The whole school knew how talented her team was. If they didn't win then it would all fall back on her.

"I agree with George. Ron would fit in best with the team," Alicia said.

Angelina listened to them discuss the pros and cons as the potential players made their way back across the pitch. She shushed her team as the other students got closer. "Again, thanks to everyone for trying out. There were so much great players," Angelina lied through her teeth, "but unfortunately there is only on position open. We have decided that the Keeper that would work best with this team is Ron Weasley."

The entire group was shocked, especially Ron. She heard a bit of muttering as the other students walked away, but she tried to drown them out as they welcomed the newest member of their team. She was a bit skeptical about choosing Ron, but he was the best option. Maybe he would get better. After all, several of his brothers were brilliant players. She would just have to talk to Harry about working with him.

They were walking back up to the common room as a team when Fred turned to George and said, "I almost forgot. Did you get the stuff?"

"Of course. Lee should have brought it down to the common room by now."

"What did you get," Angelina asked, feeling more than a little suspicious.

"We wanted it to be a surprise, but we are throwing a bit of a party in the common room to celebrate the newest member of our team," Fred said.

"Little did we know it would be our own darling little brother," George said before ruffling Ron's hair and jumping out of arm length as Ron's arm flew towards his head.

"Thank Merlin," Katie said slipping her arm through Fred's as they walked through Hogwarts. "After that first week with Umbridge I definitely could use some Firewhiskey." All of Angelina's friends had taken very poorly to Umbridge. Not only was she determined to strip all the fun out of the year, but she was also preaching strongly that You-Know-Who had not returned. Angelina and the rest of the group were fiercely loyal to both Harry and Dumbledore, something that caused Umbridge to butt heads with them even more than she would have already. Angelina couldn't agree more that a stiff drink was exactly what they all needed.

"Sorry love," Fred said. "Only butterbeer."

They opened the portrait hole to see the celebration had already begun. Ron ran off right away to find Herminone. Angelina sent Fred and George a knowing glance. They just rolled their eyes before running off as well to find Lee and make sure everything was set up for the party.

It was certainly a fun evening. After talking to Harry about Ron, Angelina tried her hardest to not think about Quidditch too much. She had never realized how much time and energy went into being captain. She suddenly felt sorry for giving Wood such a hard time all those years. Most of the night was spent sitting by the fire with Katie while they watched their friends torture first years with Puking Pastilles and Fainting Fancies. Alicia had mysteriously disappeared, though Angelina assumed she went to bed. She had been exhausted when they were walking back to the common room.

"May I have this dance?" Angelina looked up with a smile, expecting to see George, but instead saw Katie place her hand in Fred's before heading over to the area the students had cleared for dancing. A second later George dropped down next to her.

"That was what I was going to say, but he got it first," he said as he pulled Angelina towards him.

"I think I'm alright with this," she said before leaning over to kiss him. While it was meant as just one little kiss, they both were quickly lost in the novelty of the other's lips. Angelina succeeded in pulling away after a few minutes. "We shouldn't be doing this here. We don't want to be one of 'those couples,'" she said, wrinkling her nose as she thought of the disgusting couples who full on snogged in front of other people.

"Then let's go somewhere else," he said with a suggestive smile.

Angelina looked over to where Fred and Katie were dancing. They seemed preoccupied enough. "Alright," Angelina said, looking back at her shocked boyfriend's face.

"Really?"

"Sure. But I am not going to a broom cupboard," Angelina said with a laugh.

"Of course not," George said while helping her to her feet and practically dragging her out of the common room. "You are far too classy for that."

Angelina just laughed and pulled him in for another intense kiss before continuing on to their final destination. George led her through several corridors before pulling her into an open classroom. Angelina was stunned to find it nearly filled with large beanbag chairs. "What is all of this?" Angelina asked, knowing that if anyone knew it would be George.

"They used to use these for Astronomy class. Everyone would lie on one when studying the stars. Unfortunately, the students kept falling asleep so they stashed them all here."

"Interesting," Angelina said, though that wasn't what she was interested in that moment. She felt George walk up behind her before he gently pulled her hair to one side and starting to kiss her neck. She just relaxed back into him, reveling in his touch and astounded that she was actually with him. She turned around to face him and pulled him into a searing kiss. It was unlike anything she had ever experienced. Not only was the kiss incredible, but she felt like her whole body was one fire. Every place he touch her burned up, then turning cold when his touch moved on. Their kisses became progressively more passionate as they moved across the room, eventually falling onto a comfortable bean bag. They both started laughing as they resituated themselves. Angelina looked up at him and was once again stuck by just how lucky she was. She reached her hand up, placing her palm on his cheek and tracing the outline of his lips with her thumb. "You are incredible, do you know that?" she asked. His smile grew even more before giving her another hard kiss. George pulled back and stared at her with a strange look in his eyes.

"I love you," George said.

"You do?"

George froze before turning bright red and sitting up a bit. "Shit. I knew I shouldn't have said that. It was way too early. It's just that even though we have only been together for what, not even a week, it isn't like we just met. You have been my best friend for 6 years and I have known for a long time that I felt th-"

"Calm down, George," Angelina said with a laugh and forcing him to look back at her. After she had stopped freaking about, she said, "I love you, too." With that, Angelina pushed George back down on the bean bag and picked back up where they had left off, content to just be with the boy she loved.


	12. Chapter 12 Rubbish

**Another chapter! YAY!! Thanks so much to those of you who have reviewed. I still haven't gotten that much feedback, so if you want me to continue please let me know. Also, I would really appreciate any advice or suggestions anyone has. I hope to hear from you guys! :-) **

Angelina stirred as she attempted to hold tight to her dreams. As her colorful nighttime world faded, she snuggled farther into her comfortable bed and squeezed her eyes shut even tighter. She was reaching for around for her blanket when she realized that she wasn't in the Gryffindor tower. Her eyes shot open, having forgotten for a moment what happened the previous night. She glanced next to her to see George still fast asleep next to her. When she shifted a bit she felt George's arm tighten around her waist unconsciously. Settling down next to him, Angelina took the moment to study his face. She loved everything about him. He was much more attractive than people realized, even himself, which was saying a lot. Even while asleep he had a small mischievous grin on his face, making Angelina wonder what he was dreaming about. Angelina leaned forward and started planting small kisses along his neck.

"I could definitely get used to waking up to this," he said with a little laugh.

"Sounds good to me," Angelina said back in between kisses. George put a hand under her chin, pulling her attention away from his neck and back to his lips. They were sweet good morning kisses, nothing like the passion filled kisses they had shared the night before.

"What time is it?" Angelina asked.

"No idea, but luckily it's Saturday and we have nowhere to be."

"Well, I was kind of hoping to get a practice in today," Angelina said with an innocent look. George just started cracking up.

"And so it begins," he said as he stood up and helped her to her feet. The two made their way back to Gryffindor tower, trying to avoid anyone who would notice that they were in the same clothes as the day before. They walked up to the portrait hand in hand to see the Fat Lady smiling suggestively at them.

"Hello, you two," she said as she raised her eyebrows. "I see you had a good time last night. What were you doing exactly?"

Angelina and George shared a surprised look before he laughed and said, "_Mimulus mumbletonia," _obviously happy to keep the details of their night away from the Fat Lady. She opened with a huff. Angelina could hear her complaining about how rude kids were these days and how much she would love some good gossip as she swung back shut. They made their way through the common room, which was nearly empty except for a couple of younger students in the corner. Angelina took this as a good sign. Hopefully everyone was down at breakfast and she would be able to go up and change without all her roommates asking questions.

"What time do you want to have practice?" George asked as he walked her over to the girl's staircase.

"Let's meet down at the pitch at one if I don't see you before that," she said. "Could you pass that on to Fred, Harry, and Ron if you see them?"

"Sure. I'll see you in a bit," he said, bending down and placing a soft kiss on her lips before heading off to his own dorm. Even that briefest of contact sent her head spinning. Angelina made her way up to her room in a daze that was only broken when she entered her dorm to see Alicia and Katie sitting on her bed. The second they saw her they adopted identical accusatory expressions, though Angelina could see a bit of a smile playing around the edges of their lips.

"Where have you been, young lady?" Katie asked.

"I was just down at breakfast," Angelina said, trying to rearrange her expression into an innocent one and praying that it was around breakfast time.

"Really?" Katie said sarcastically. "In the same clothes from yesterday? Wow, Angelina. I thought you were cleaner than that. If you need to borrow some clothes you know my closet is always available."

"Thanks for understanding," Angelina said with a laugh.

"But really, where did you disappear to last night?"

"George and I figured we would sneak off to get some alone time," Angelina explained, smiling to herself as she thought about the previous night.

"Without telling me," Katie said with a mock hurt expression. "You could have said something."

"Oh, sod off," Angelina said. "You and Fred seemed pretty content with what you were doing anyways."

She was surprised to see a faint blush drift up Katie's pale skin and into her cheeks. Katie looked up at her and saw her surprised and questioning expression. She glanced at Alicia to see if she had noticed as well, but she seemed to be lost in her own thoughts. Confident that she hadn't seen anything, Katie quickly changed the subject. "Yeah, we were dancing, not shagging."

"We weren't shagging!"

Alicia finally seemed to be pulled out of her daze as she shot Angelina a disbelieving look. "You expect us to believe that you ran off somewhere all night with the boy you have fancied for 6 years after not being able to be with him for months and just cuddled?"

"I'm not saying _other_ things didn't happen," Angelina said with an embarrassed smile, "but we haven't even been together for a week."

"So what were you doing _all night_?" Katie asked.

"Talking. Oh, and that other stuff. And then we fell asleep on some beanbags in a deserted classroom."

"Beanbags?" Katie asked, suddenly even more interested in the conversation. "Since when? Can we steal one and bring it up here?"

"I thought the same thing!" Angelina said, happy to be on the same brain wave as her best friend. "But they are sort of big. We would have to get the help of the boys if we don't want to get caught."

"Can we please stay on topic?" Alicia asked, laughing at how quickly her friends go off on tangents. "What else happened?"

"Well," Angelina said, bracing herself for their reaction. "We said 'I love you.'"

There was a brief pause as Katie and Alicia stared at her with open mouths. Then the squealing began. Angelina listened to about a minute of 'that's great', 'I'm so happy for you', and 'you two are perfect for each other' before trying to calm her friends down.

"By the way," she said, "We have practice at 1."

Their expressions quickly shift from excitement to disbelief. "You have got to be joking, Angelina," Katie said. "We just got the team together yesterday."

"And we haven't gotten the chance to all play together since Potter can't seem to stay out of detention long enough for me to form a team," Angelina said as though that explained the obvious need for a practice. "What time is it now?"

Sighing resignedly, Alicia glanced at her watch. "11:30."

"Great! Do you want to run down to the kitchens with me to grab some food before practice? I'm starved."

The other two girls rose, unwillingly dragging their feet as they headed downstairs. Angelina was surprised that they didn't run into George, Fred, and Lee, but figured she would see them soon enough at her first practice as captain. Her stomach did a nervous little flip at that thought.

A while later, Angelina sat in the captain's office of the Gryffindor changing room while the rest of her team prepared for practice. The bunch of Slytherin's sitting in the stands had not escaped her notice and she was worried about how their presence would affect the first practice of the year. She emerged from the office to face her new team. She stopped short when she saw them all, realizing for the first time that the team was completely made up of her best friends and sudo-little brothers.

She cleared her throat to get everyone's attention. "Okay everyone. Let's get to it; Alicia and Fred, if you can just bring the ball crate out for us. Oh, and there are a couple of people out there watching but I want you to just ignore them, all right?" she said, trying to warn them in so many words that there would be significant amount of jeering throughout the practice.

It was undoubtedly the most disastrous practice Angelina had ever taken part in. Ron was absolute rubbish, and his mistake caused a casualty on his own team. Angelina tried to keep pushing her team, but seeing that Katie was now close to passing out from loss of blood, she blew the whistle and summoned her team back to the ground.

"She needs to go to the hospital wing," Angelina said to Fred and George.

"We'll take her," Fred said with a sheepish look. "I may have given her- um- a Blood Bliterpod by mistake."

"Bloody hell Fred," Angelina said, angry that the practice had turned out so poorly. "You and George get her to the hospital wing."

"I'm sorry, Angelina," Fred said, looking remorsefully at Katie as he helped her away.

"We'll meet you and Alicia under the tree by the lake after we help her out, okay?" George said as he placed Katie's other arm over his shoulder, helping Fred out with the weight.

"Fine, okay," she said shortly.

She watched their retreating figures for a moment before turning back to the remaining members of the team. "Well, there's no point continuing with no Beaters and a Chaser gone. Come on, let's go and get changed." She could see the upset expression on Ron's face, but was still too thoroughly pissed off to give him the comforting words she should have as captain. She and Alicia made their way to the Great Lake a bit later, settling down under the tree to wait for everyone to meet them.

"It will get better," Alicia said in an effort to comfort Angelina.

"I know," Angelina said. "I just wanted to start the year off with a great practice and it couldn't have gone worse if it had been one of my nightmares. And now all of Hogwarts is going to hear about it because of that git Malfoy and his little cronies."

"When we destroy them in the first match of the year they will know that this practice was just a fluke."

Angelina hoped that would be the case, but couldn't help but feel a bit skeptical. An hour or so later Angelina saw Fred, George, and Katie making their way over to them.

"You lived," Angelina said with a smile, trying to keep her mood light.

"Yeah, no thanks to these idiots," she said gesturing to Fred and George. "And I see you have yet to kill yourself as well."

"Well, like Alicia said, he will get better. I mean, we will get better," she said, quickly correcting herself.

"No, he will get better is more appropriate," Fred said as they all sat down.

"I think I have realized what it is," George said. "Harry said that he was pretty good when they were practicing, so I think he just gets nervous. It's worse when we give him a hard time."

"Shit," Angelina said. "So we're screwed."

"Why?" Alicia asked.

"Do you think that these two dolts could go an entire practice without mocking Ron? Much less an entire season."

"She has an excellent point," Fred said.

"We do tend to rip on him, don't we?" said George.

"It has been a huge part of our lives for the past 15 years"

"Sorry, Ange, but not something we can give up."

Their joking helped to lighten the mood a bit, and the conversation took a more positive turn. Not long after, their group was joined by another member.

"Mind if I join you?"

They all looked up to see Cormac McLaggen standing next to them. They are shared a confused look before George responded, "Fine."

McLaggen settled onto the ground next to them before launching into why he was there. "So, I hear you are still shopping for a Keeper," he said, smiling charmingly at the group.

"Who told you that?" Angelina said with a raised eyebrow.

"Let's just say that this morning's practice isn't so secret," he said in a mock whisper.

"Well, I'm sorry to tell you that I already have my team put together."

"You have to be kidding. The entire school knows that Weasley is rubbish."

"If you were so interested in playing why weren't you at tryouts yesterday?" Fred asked, sitting up slightly and looking at McLaggen threateningly. He just returned the look with full force.

"I was in the hospital wing because of a dare."

"So you took a stupid dare that landed you in the hospital wing when you knew that Quidditch tryouts were that day?" Angelina asked, trying to figure out just how idiotic this boy was.

"Yeah, but I'm better now and ready to show you I am the best player," he said with an arrogant smile.

"I told you. I already have my team set. Maybe next year."

McLaggen's eyes flashed furiously, glancing around the group for a sign that this was some joke. His glaze landed lastly on the arm that was slung around Angelina's shoulders. "I see. You have to be related to someone shagging the captain to get on the team," he said, his voice dripping with malice.

The next second George flew at McLaggen, picking him up by the collar of his shirt and throwing him against the tree like he was a rag doll and not the large boy he actually was. Pointing his wand at his throat, George said angrily, "Who the bloody hell do you think you are?"

Before anyone else could respond Angelina got up and put a hand on the arm restraining McLaggen. He looked back at her and recognized the familiar expression that had been seen so many times on her face whenever Fred and George tried out their products on her. He lifted both his hands in surrender before sitting back down. McLaggen straightened his robes, completely shocked by George's reaction.

"You are an arrogant toe-rag," Angelina said to a surprised McLaggen, who had thought her fierce look had been aimed at George. "I don't want you on my team because no one likes you. You wouldn't work well with the team and as captain I don't want to put up with your bullshit. If you weren't such a bloody idiot you would have made it to tryouts and possibly have made it onto the team. Now, if you will, leave us the hell alone."

She had turned her back on McLaggen and was about to sit when she heard him mutter, "Stupid bitch."

She flew around quickly and sent a knee-reversal hex his way before McLaggen realized what was happening. She watched with pleasure as the hex set to work and sent him sprawling on the ground.

"What the hell did you do to me bitch?" McLaggen yelled while Angelina and her friends roared with laughter.

"Nothing they can't fix in the hospital wing. Good luck getting up there, by the way," Angelina said with a satisfied smile. They watched in amusement as he tried walking backwards up to the castle.

"Stupid prat," George said as Angelina settled back down next to him.

"I never thought I would say this, but can we talk about something other than Quidditch for a bit?" Angelina asked, a request that the others were more than happy to agree to.

"Where is Lee?" Alicia asked, just realizing that he was missing.

"Oh, we ran into him when we were leaving and he said he was going to meet up with Ellie for a bit. They haven't gotten to see much of each other this week, you know, with moving back in and everything."

"This has been really fun," Katie said as she sat up a bit a while later, "but I would really like to go flying for longer than 15 minutes today. You in, Fred?" She pointedly ignored looking at Angelina when she said this.

"How come you are able to tell us apart now?" Fred asked with a tone that suggested it was something he had been wondering about for a while.

"Well, I figured that if you were George that the kisses your twin was giving your girlfriend might bother you a bit," she pointed out obviously.

"Real witty," he said with a roll of his eyes. "But you could tell us apart before that."

"I don't know," Katie said. "Maybe I just started paying more attention when Angelina explained how she could tell you apart."

"Or maybe you are in love with me," Fred said with a mischievous grin. Angelina thought she could see a bit of genuine curiosity underneath his joking exterior.

"You figured me out, Weaseley," Katie said with a grin and a wink. "Let's head up to the castle," she said, obviously trying to distract everyone from the blush that was becoming more and more evident as the conversation progressed.

They spent the rest of the day relaxing and completing a bit of the homework assigned to them by their professors. The seventh year work was by far the hardest, and their schedules were certainly not easy either. Angelina often laughed about the fact that the twins' best and favorite subjects were some of the hardest. They always said that they were too intelligent to be bothered with the other topics. They dedicated that time instead to important things, like developing their joke products.

Later that evening, George, Angelina, and Alicia were working on a particularly hard essay assigned by McGonagall while Fred procrastinated by playing a game of chess with Katie.

"You are really awful at this game," Fred said with a laugh as he took out Katie's other bishop.

"I never said I was good," Katie said as she scrunched up her face in concentration trying to figure out her next move. "But I can still whip you in Exploding Snap."

"Why do you think I picked chess instead," Fred said with a smile. He stared at Katie a bit too long as she continued to contemplate the board. He looked up to see Angelina watching him before quickly looking away to appear as though he wasn't watching Katie with an adoring look on his face. Angelina just laughed at her friends, recognizing the pattern.

"So, do we know when the first Hogsmeade trip is?" Alicia asked, taking a brief break from her essay.

"Not sure," George said distractedly, "but I hope it's soon. There are some things we need to get so we can fix up some of our products."

"Oh, yeah, I hope so too," she said before standing up to stretch. "I think I am going to take a quick walk around the grounds," she said with a guilty expression.

"By yourself?" Angelina asked suspiciously.

"Yeah, it's very therapeutic," she said as she made her way to the portrait hole and climbed through.

"She is definitely hooking up with Weathers again, isn't she?" Fred asked as he watched the portrait swing closed.

"If she is she hasn't told us yet," Katie said.

"But she has been strange this week," Angelina added.

"I guess they will be going to Hogsmeade together, then," Fred said with an air of carefully constructed causality.

"Yeah, I guess so," Katie said also trying to act natural.

"Do you know who you are going to go with?" Fred asked Katie.

"I'm not sure," she said, but she sent him a smile.

"Yeah, me neither," he said, seeming to have chickened out before adding quickly, "I think I might ask that Ravenclaw Beatrice Kingston."

Katie's expression filled with shock for a moment before she could rearrange it to one of indifference. "Oh, really?" she asked, the pitch of her voice raising a little. "She seems nice. Well it's- um- getting a bit late. I think I am going to turn in. I'm tired from- you know- the whole loss of blood thing, thanks for that," she said with a forced laugh before jumping up and heading towards the girls' staircase.

"But wait," Fred called after her. "What about our game?"

"You win," Katie said with a sad smile before heading up the staircase. Fred turned back to the board with a mixture of shock and disappointment. He looked up at Angelina with a look of desperation.

"Sorry, but you are bloody idiot," she said to him before getting up to follow Katie up the stairs.

**I had someone ask a while ago if Fred and Katie were going to get together. I didn't answer because I didn't want to ruin it for you, but I have kind of always planned on them getting together eventually, though I wasn't sure when it was going to happen. I know technically they aren't together, but the wheels have been officially put into motion. I am not a fan of fics that make it so the large group of girls and guys perfectly pair up and everyone finds the love of their lives, but this seemed appropriate to me. Angelina and Katie are very similar in personality, and I think the things that made Fred think he liked Angelina make him actually like Katie. I imagine that Katie is becoming to Fred what George was to Angelina, the best friend that he realizes he is always looking to whenever he does something, and it is kind of freaking him out at this point. It is so different than what he "felt" for Angelina and he doesn't know how to deal with it. I just wanted to give you all an insight since we don't get to see inside Fred's mind like we do Angelina's. **

**PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW! :-)**


	13. Chapter 13 About time

**So two things. First of all I am sorry for not updating in a while. School is insane right now. Also, sorry the chapter is so short too. I just am having a bit of trouble getting through the Quidditch game (you know the dreadful one where Fred, George, and Harry get banned?) So I am thinking I might just skip to the end of it for next chapter. What do you all think? I don't know how often I will be able to update during the year since I have so much work but I will try. Please let me know if you want the story to keep going. Thanks everyone.**

Angelina tapped quietly on the door of the 6th year girls' dormitory. "Katie," she said just loud enough to be heard from inside, "can I come in?" She waited for nearly 30 seconds with no answer before deciding to go in without permission. She opened the door slowly, peeking around the room to see it empty with the exception of her friend. Katie was standing over next to the window. As she moved closer to her, Angelina saw that Katie was clutching her old slingshot that she had had her entire life. When Katie was five years old her brother, Thomas, left for his first year of school at Hogwarts. To make up for leaving her behind he left her his most prized possession, that old slingshot. Her using it was always a sure fire sign of trouble. She had a bag of gobstones on the table next to her. She seemed to be shooting them out the window with her slingshot before furiously lifting her wand and blasting them to pieces. "He is a complete imbecile," Angelina said with a sigh.

"I have been such an idiot," Katie said as she fitted another gobstone into her slingshot.

"No you haven't," Angelina said, reaching to take the slingshot out of her hand so she would turn around. "He is just an arse."

Katie didn't say anything, almost as if she didn't hear her at all, and just walked over to her bed. She sat there few a few minutes, not looking at anything in particular, before looking up at Angelina with a look of exasperated disbelief and saying, "Beatrice Kingston? Seriously?"

Angelina couldn't keep herself from laughing. It was the exact reaction she had when Fred said it. She knew him well enough to know that he didn't mean it. Katie would have known it too if she wasn't so blinded by the fact that she fancied him. Angelina couldn't really say anything about that. She was the poster child for that syndrome.

"Do you think he knows I fancy him?" Katie asked with a pained expression.

"Yeah, he does," Angelina said. "And he also knows he fancies you. He is just too dumb to figure it all out."

"He doesn't fancy me. He probably is still pining over you."

"Oh come on," Angelina said with a snort. "Fred never really fancied me. We talked all about it. He just felt comfortable with me. He was only so upset because I had bruised his ego."

"Well, then maybe that's what it is with me too. Only I didn't bruise his ego since he is the one turning me down," she said.

I'm telling you, this is different. I know him better than anyone. Just don't give up on him completely , okay?"

"Fine, whatever," Katie said throwing up her arms in defeat. "Can I go back to blowing up gobstones now?"

Angelina laughed. "Sure. Whose are those anyways? You hate playing Gobstones."

"Oh," Katie said with a guilty look. "They may belong to Vaughn Ackart and I may have gone through her trunk to get them. They are the perfect stress relievers." Angelina just shook her head as she turned to leave Katie to her therapy. She opened the door to see Fred with his hand lifted, just about to knock.

"Oh, hi," Fred said awkwardly, looking around her to see Katie by the window. When she heard his voice she spun around to look at him.

"How did you get up here?" Katie asked as Fred made his way into her room.

"That is one secret George and I will never share," He said with a crooked grin. "I wanted to talk to you about something, but maybe I should come back later," he said throwing a nervous glance at the slingshot in her hand.

Katie just laughed and threw it back into her trunk at the foot of her bed. "I'm alright now."

Fred visibly gulped before taking a few steps closer to her. "I've been a complete prat," he told her. When she didn't argue against that he continued. "Okay, here goes. I fancy you. Quite a lot actually. And I don't want to botch this up like George and Angelina because we don't have a lot of time to fix it. I know I will still see you after I graduate but it won't be the same." By this time he had made his way to stand directly in front of her. He had stopped talking and she had continued to just stare at him. "Please say something," Fred pleaded.

Katie didn't say a word. What she did do was close the tiniest of spaces between them before putting her hand on the back of his head and pulling him down to kiss her. "So, um, yeah. I think I'm going to go. You two have fun," Angelina said awkwardly. As she quietly slipped out of the room, she saw Fred yank Katie up and her wrap her legs around his waist, completely oblivious to the fact that she had been in the room to begin with.

Angelina settled back down next to George on the couch. "So did he actually go through with it?" George asked as he put his arm around her.

"Yeah he did," she said with a smile. "What I really want to know is how the hell he got up those stairs!"

"That is one secret Fred and I will never share," George said with a crooked grin, somehow making him look even more identical to his twin. Angelina just laughed and snuggled in more.

"Isn't it crazy that my best friend and your twin would start dating?"

"I don't think so," George said as he thought about it. "Fred and I are nearly the same person and you and Katie are scarily alike. I make sense that we would like the same type of girl. I was just lucky enough to get the best one," he said a sweet smile. That smile quickly changed to a mischievous one as he quickly picked Angelina up and repositioned her so she was lying on the couch with him hovering over her. He lost no time in beginning to nuzzle her neck.

"Bloody hell, George. We are in the middle of the common room," Angelina said before George could push all coherent thoughts out of her mind.

"Luckily, no one else is in here," George murmured between kisses, "so we technically aren't doing anything in public."

Angelina couldn't argue with his logic, and the more kisses he got away with the less inclined she was to stop him anyways. They carried on that way for nearly 45 minutes when they heard a small cough behind them that sounded very reminiscent of Professor Umbridge. George and Angelina pulled back and looked at each other with matching horrified expressions before bolting off the couch. They righted themselves to see Katie and Fred staring at them smugly.

"Some people just have no tact, do they?" Fred said to Katie.

"I do agree. In the middle of the common room? Come on guys," Katie said with a laugh.

"Sod off," George said. "Now that you two are together you are going to be all over each other all the time."

"Well, since you are already expecting it…" Fred said before dipping Katie and kissing her hard. The startled Katie just laughed into the kiss before pulling him even closer.

"Yeah, yeah. We get it," Angelina said, laughing, before chucking a pillow at the pair.

~*********~

A few days later everything was still going great. The whole school had now heard that both the Weasley twins were off the market, something that many girls at Hogwarts regretted. Alicia and Lee were equally shocked, but seemed to think they were a good pair. George was definitely right, though. Those two could not keep their hands off each other.

Katie seemed to glow. Every second of the day she looked like she had heard the best joke and was trying her hardest to keep from laughing. Fred also couldn't stop smiling. While he was known for always having a smirk on his face, this was more of a genuine, giddy smile. They were exactly what the other needed. Angelina couldn't have been happier for her two best friends.

Angelina was walking towards the Great Hall when she saw a Weasley twin running full speed at her, glance back over his shoulder nervously. He skidded to a stop in front of her, saying, "Angelina, thank Merlin."

"What did you do?" Angelina asked with humor laced in her tone.

Fred simply tossed his arm over her shoulder and whispered, "Just go with it," as Ron rounded the corner, looking ready to kill. Quickly making his way over to Angelina and Fred he said, "Do you know where Fred is?"

Angelina looked at Fred with a raised eyebrow while he sent her a warning look. "Nope," she said with a pointed glance at Fred, "but he might be upset." She paused for a moment before adopting a sorrowful look on her face. "I don't know if I am supposed to tell you this but you are his brother after all." Fred looked worried while Ron looked like a three year old on Christmas morning. "Well, you know he fancies Eloise Midgen," Angelina said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Wait," Ron said, interrupting her, "I thought Fred was going out with Katie."

"Oh, no. She broke up with him," Angelina said before lowering her voice and leaning in conspiratorially, "She said it was because he is a bad kisser." She felt Fred's hand tighten on her shoulder.

"That isn't true," Fred said defensively. When he saw the strange look from Ron he tried to cover. "I mean, Fred would have told me, obviously."

"Oh, George," Angelina said reaching up to pat his cheek slightly harder than she needed to, "Sometimes Fred just needs to talk to a girl about these things." Seeing that she had beat him she continued with her story. "Well, anyways. Fred has been talking to Eloise and he just thinks she is such a great girl, but he doesn't think she would ever like him."

"Eloise turned down Fred?" Ron asked disbelievingly.

"I know," Angelina said, really laying it on thick. "His exact words were 'she is just so smart and sweet. I'm not the kind of guy she would ever be interested in.' So he has been pretty upset for a while. Oh wait! I just got the best idea. You have met Eloise right Ron?" When he nodded, she continued. "Maybe you could talk to her for him." Angelina was barely containing her laugh.

"I'm not going to do anything until I hex that little git into oblivion."

"What did he even do?" Angelina asked, amused by how riled up Ron was.

"He snuck into my room and replaced all my candy with their products. The problem is he didn't give me the antidote. I have been puking for the past 3 hours."

Angelina couldn't help but laugh. "That's a good one," she said as she turned to look at Fred.

"Yeah, real bloody wonderful," Ron said bitterly. "If you see Fred let him know I am not going to let it go."

"Will do," Fred said with a wink.

Right as Ron was about to turn to leave George walked up behind him, glancing over at his girlfriend with Fred's arm around her. "Listen mate," he said with a grin, "I know we share everything and all but I'm going to have to draw the line at my girlfriend."

Fred's frantic signaling was cut short as Ron turned around and began to once again chance him. George just placed his arm where his brother's had been. "I'll have to hear the story behind that one later."

**Again, sorry it is so short. Please review and let me know what you thought :-)**


	14. Chapter 14 Their Last Fall

**Hello again. So here is a new chapter. Please let me know what you think so I can decide if I am going to keep working on this or move on to another one. I have a Ron/Herminone one I am thinking about and also an extention of the Lily/James one-shot I wrote a while ago. I really appreciate anything you guys have to say.**

"I can't believe this is happening," Angelina said. She was sitting on the edge of her bed with her elbows on her knees, her hands coming up to her forehead to massage it. Her anger had seemed to finally pass after several days, though it could easily come back at any second. All she felt at the moment was complete shock.

"He's really sorry, Angelina," Katie said in a soothing voice.

"He may be sorry, but he can't take it back. None of them can."

Angelina heard a knock on her door and turned to see her boyfriend peeking around the door at her. When she didn't throw anything at him, he made his way farther into the room. "Hey Ange," he said with his hands in his pockets, his shoulders raised and a look of pure desperation on his face. "Can I talk to you?"

"Alright," Angelina said with a shrug. Katie discreetly made her way out of the room leaving just the two of them there. Once she was out of the room George moved over to sit beside Angelina, both staring straight forward, unable to look at each other. They hadn't spoken in two days, something that had not happened since before they started dating. After a minute or so of silence George turned towards her. When she didn't turn towards him as well he placed his hands on her shoulders and forced her to face him.

"You are being ridiculous," he said when she resisted facing him.

"I'm being ridiculous?" she said with raised eyebrows, her eyes flashing. "This coming for the prat who let Draco Malfoy get under his skin and cost me my three best players." Her voice steadily rose in volume as she ranted. "I held back Fred because I thought I could trust you not to act like a stupid arse. But I guess I don't know you as well as I thought."

"Fine," a frustrated George said throwing up his arms and moving off the bed. "I guess you don't. I'm sorry I let him get to me. He was insulting nearly every person I love. It was dumb of me, but you can't stay mad at me forever."

"Oh really?" Angelina said, standing up and walking over to him. "Because right now it feels like I can."

"You are going to screw this up," he said gesturing between them, "just because you are too bloody irrational."

"I'm not irrational. I'm pissed. Do you realized how hard I have worked to become captain?" she said getting up in his face. "I'm not good enough to play professionally. I have known that for a long time, but I thought that if I was good enough at captain with one of the best teams Hogwarts has ever seen I might still have a future in the Quidditch world. Now that's all shot to hell." By the end of her speech she was no longer angry, just tired. She walked back over to the bed, sitting back in her original position and staring at nothing. She sensed George walking up to her, but didn't really register anything until he was directly in front of her. He placed a hand under her chin, lifting her face so she looked at him. He leaned down to her and kissed her softly.

"I'm sorry Angelina. I know how much this all meant to you. I didn't mean for it to happen, and if I could change what happen I would. But you are an amazing captain and you still have the best three chasers in the school who work so well together. And think about it this way. You have the opportunity to get another great team together and win just to spite Umbridge." Angelina rolled her eyes but smiled a little. "But you can't stay mad at us. Fred is your best friend and I am your boyfriend. Plus you'll want Harry's help in training the new seeker. You can't break down. And let's be honest, you definitely will if you aren't talking to me," he said with a self-assured smirk. Angelina laughed reluctantly. Seeing the moment of weakness George pulled her to her feet and into a tight hug. "So are we not fighting anymore?"

"I guess I can let you off," she said, happy to be talking to her boyfriend again.

"How about I make it up to you tonight. Be ready at 8. And don't eat dinner before," George said with a little smirk as he made his way out of the dorm. It couldn't have been more than 30 seconds before Katie was back in her room.

"So," Katie said expectantly.

"So, what?" Angelina said nonchalantly.

"Don't even. You know what."

"Fine. We talked and we are okay now. Actually it was more like I screamed and he rationalized everything and made me realized how stupid I was being."

"He got you to admit you were wrong?" Katie said in shock.

"I was not wrong," Angelina said with a raised eyebrow. "He just made me realize I couldn't stay mad at him any longer.

"So why did he bolt so quickly?" Katie asked. "I figured he would want to spend more time with you since it had been days since you talked."

"I don't know," Angelina said, just thinking about it for the first time. "but apparently he is doing something to make up for getting kicked off the Quidditch team tonight. I was told to be ready at 8 and not to bother having dinner. I'm guessing he is just going to set something up with the house elves."

"I never know what to expect from those boys," Katie said with a laugh.

A few hours later Angelina was waiting in the common room for George. She was sitting on the couch by the fire when something was put over her eyes. She jumped and tried to grab the cloth away, but then she heard George's soothing voice say, "Just go with it. I promise it will be worth it." She relaxed a little, but was still nervous about what he was going to do. He helped her stand and began leading her through the common room, out the portrait hole and off through the castle.

"Where are you taking me?" Angelina asked after walking for a while, half annoyed, half excited.

"Calm down," George said with a laugh. "We are almost there." He stopped her and released his hold on her arms. Her arms shot forward to grab the blindfold, but he was still faster, pinning her arms back by her sides. "I will tell you when you can take it off. You don't want to spoil the surprise, do you?" Angelina just huffed and nodded for him to continue. He laughed and bent down, kissing her hard before releasing her arms. After a few seconds she felt his guiding arms take hold of her again. They took no more than 10 steps forward when George reached around and removed her blindfold.

The sight before her left her breathless. She was in India. She was in a small, deserted restaurant with a clear view out the window of the Taj Mahal. She was surrounded by beautiful fabrics, low tables, and pillows for chairs. She turned, her eyes wide, to face her boyfriend who was smiling like a madman. "How did you do this?" Angelina asked.

"Well I remember you talking about how you have always wanted to go to India. I figured I would have to do something really good to get forgiven for the whole Quidditch thing. We are actually just in the Room of Requirement so don't get too excited, but yeah."

"The view looks so real!" Angelina said as she scampered over to the window.

"Real is exactly what I was going for," George said, laughing at his girlfriend's excitement. She turned to look at him standing across the room, looking so happy at her reaction. She was overwhelmed by what an amazing guy he was. How in the world could she have stayed mad at him that long? She ran over to him, throwing her arms around her neck and kissing him as he picked her up, pulling her even closer.

"Thank you so much, George," she said, her eyes shining.

"I would do anything for you," he said sincerely with a little shrug. "I love you."

They spent the rest of the night eating Indian food, talking about the future, and telling each other over and over again how sorry they each were for the past few days.

"It's getting late," George said. "Should we be getting back?"

Angelina pulled him back down next to her and said, "Not yet. Or really not at all. This is the Room of Requirement. We have everything we need here, remember? We need clean robes for tomorrow and all our school supplies," Angelina said to no one in particular. Suddenly, all their things appeared in order in the corner of the room. "See," Angelina said with a smug smile.

"Well what are we supposed to do now that we have all night?" George asked with a mischievous grin. Angelina didn't answer, but rather just pulled him back down for another kiss. Their kissing quickly elevated in passion. George quickly moved her so that she was straddling his lap, pulling her into a deep kiss. Angelina felt intoxicated by the situation. She hardly registered that they were striping off their robes until she was down to just her bra and underwear. She pulled back for a second, thrown that they had progressed so quickly to that point. "Are you alright?" George asked, obviously nervous that he had pushed it too far.

Angelina paused and thought about it. She loved him. It wasn't like he was just some random boy. She was ready for this. "I'm fine," she told him with a smile before kissing him again.

~*********~

The next morning Angelina woke up in George's arms feeling content. A little alarm had appeared in the room to make sure the woke up in time for class, and Angelina reached for her wand to stop it before moving back over to George who hadn't even noticed the alarm. She placed short, sweet kisses along his jaw line as he stirred. By the time she made it to his lips he was fully awake, rolling her over quickly so he was hovering over her. "Let's not go to class today," George said in between kisses.

"We can't skip our classes," Angelina replied, though her protests were half-hearted. "Umbridge is already looking for a reason to punish you."

"I don't care," he said with a little laugh. "I just want to stay in bed with you all day."

"I'm okay with that," Angelina mumbled, feeling lightheaded from the kisses he was now placing on her neck. All of a sudden she heard a voice whispering _George_ that didn't belong to herself. She bolted upright, throwing George off her and glancing frantically around the room. "Did you hear that?" she asked.

"Hear what?" a frustrated George asked.

"Someone said your name. Is someone else in here?" she asked, slowly becoming hysterical.

"Bollocks," he said, reaching over to the bag he had brought with him and pulled out a mirror. It took a minute for Angelina to realize that it wasn't George's reflection, but actually Fred. "What the bloody hell do you want?"

"Hey mate," Fred said with a smirk. "So I see you and Angelina made up. Does this mean you forgive me too beautiful?"

"I had, but now I'm not so sure," Angelina said with a smile. Fred just laughed and looked back at his brother.

"I just thought you should know that Umbridge is on the war path. She knows about the DA but doesn't know how to bust us. She has been trying to get into the Room of Requirement. I just thought I would give you a heads up. Don't want to get caught in a compromising position," he said with a smirk.

"Thanks, Fred," George said. "Now leave us alone." The image of Fred disappeared as George tossed the mirror back in his bag. "So, I guess we have to make it quick then," he said with a laugh. Angelina laughed too as she felt her lips being covered by his and herself being guided back down on to the bed.

~*********~

Later that evening, Angelina was lounging in the common room when Katie came bursting through the portrait hole. "You need to talk some sense into Ellie," she said frantically.

"What are you talking about?" Angelina asked. She felt bad to admit she hadn't done a very good job recently of staying friends with Ellie. It seemed that she was seeing less and less of her. Instead of hanging out with their group she wanted Lee to hang out with her friends. Now, with Katie and Fred together it was always the four of them with Lee and Alicia disappearing much too often.

"She told Lee today that she doesn't think it is a good idea for him to hang out with us anymore."

"She said what?" Angelina jumped off the couch. Lee was their friend first and no one could come between all of them.

"She thinks that we are going to get him into trouble because Umbridge hates us more than anyone in the entire school. Well, besides Harry but that's a given."

Angelina stormed past her and out the portrait hole without another word. She didn't even know where she was going, but she knew she needed to find Ellie. She stomped through the castle, glaring at everyone and looking for someone who would know where she was before she spotted Samantha. She stopped right in front of her making her stumble to a stop, the fierce look in Angelina's eyes freaking her out. "What do you want?" Samantha asked in a bitchy voice.

"Where is Ellie?"

"How should I know. We aren't friends anymore, remember? I believe you may have had something to do with that."

"Actually, it was the fact that you are an evil bitch, but I don't care. Find out where she is. Now." The power in Angelina's voice forced her to comply. She walked over to a group of Hufflepuffs, talked to them for a moment, and then returned to Angelina.

"They say she is out on the grounds. I don't know where exactly. Now leave me the bloody hell alone." She pushed past her and continued on to wherever she was going. Angelina set out onto the cold grounds, scanning them for Ellie's familiar figure. After nearly half an hour she found her over by the lake with a group of her friends. She walked up to them, pushing through the other girls to stand directly in front of her.

"How do you think you are?" Angelina said in a demanding voice. Ellie looked around at her friends for encouragement before adopting a more confident stance.

"I assume from the way you are talking to me that you heard what I told Lee."

"Yes, I did. How dare you? We have been so nice to you. I was your friend for Merlin's sake!"

"Yeah, you _were_. But I don't want to get kicked out of school. I have things I want to do in my life that won't happen if I am on Umbridge's bad side."

"Don't you realize that she isn't going to be in power forever? She is a stupid, stuck-up, horrid woman. How can you care more about her opinion than your friends? Did you know for detention she has this 'special quill' that carves the lines she is making you write into you _bloody hand?!"_

As Angelina spoke she saw from Ellie's expression that this wasn't her idea at all. She was so torn between what her friends and probably parents were telling her and what she knew was right. Her eyes flickered back and forth between Angelina and her friends before her eyes settled for good back on Angelina. "I'm sorry, Angelina." She pushed past her and ran back up to the castle. Angelina turned and looked at her four friends, all of whom had smug looks on their faces.

"I hope you all realize you are all bloody idiots," Angelina said before spinning around and leaving the stunned girls in her wake.

When she got back to the common room all of her friends were sitting around Lee by the fire. He looked miserable. Angelina shared a look with George silently asking him what the deal was. The look he sent her back said that it wasn't good.

"I am going to quit the DA," Lee said suddenly, breaking the silence.

"You can't do that, mate," Fred said, astounded that he would even suggest it.

"Yes I can, Fred," Lee said. "I don't want to lose Ellie, but no way am I giving up you guys as friends. Maybe if I stop going to the DA it could be a sort of compromise." His face shone with hope, though behind his eyes it was clear that he knew it wouldn't work. Everyone just looked at him sympathetically as he continued to formulate his plan.

It didn't work, though. The next month with filled with fights between Lee, Ellie, and the rest of the group. Angelina knew that Ellie didn't want to be acting like that, but the pressure from everyone was too much for her. By mid November it was clear that something had to change.

"She gave me an ultimatum," Lee said one night as they sat in their normal spot in the common room. Nothing had been said before it, but it was clear what the issue was.

"What did you say?" Alicia asked quietly, scared of what his answer would be.

Lee sighed, dropping his head into his hands before mumbling, "I told her to fuck off."

"What?!" Fred asked, laughing loudly. He had come to really hate Ellie over the course of the past month.

"Yeah, mate," Lee said, smiling sadly. "I told her that not only were you all by best friends but that I knew what I believed in and that I was going to stand up for it. I told her when she was ready to do the same thing that I would still be here."

"So you are over then?" Katie asked.

"Yeah, I guess so," Lee said, not making eye contact with any of them.

The group sat in silence, knowing from being around Lee for so long that he wouldn't want to say anything more about it. "So, Exploding Snap anyone?" Fred said cheerily. Katie just smacked him upside the head as a small smile formed on Lee's lips.

"Sounds great."

~*********~

The last part of the fall semester was so hectic for Angelina. Training a nearly all new Quidditch team was taking its toll on her. At least she had Ginny. She was surprised at how well the little fireball could play. She could easily give Harry a run for his money. She felt like all she did was work with the team. Harry, George and Fred had gotten in the habit of coming down to the pitch during practice to give some pointers to the new players and the team really was coming together.

Near the end December she got a letter that was very unexpected. Oliver Wood wrote to her, asking both how the team was and when their next game would be. It seemed that he had gotten special permission to come scout at the game. Puddelmere United was looking for some new beaters, and when Oliver told them about Fred and George they were very excited to get a look at their playing. Angelina didn't have the heart to tell them, even though she knew it wasn't what they wanted anyway. She sent him back a letter filling him in on the details, telling him that he was more than welcome to come and watch a match and give her some pointers on how to help out the team.

She walked back down from the Owlery thinking about the opportunities that could come out of working with Puddlemere United. They were one of the best teams out there. If everything worked out the way she wanted then Oliver would pull a few strings for her and get her on as an assistant coach, working as a trainer for the chasers and helping them with their form. It really had been her job for a majority of her time at school and she knew how good she was at it. The biggest thing was that they had to win the match that Oliver attended. If not, there would be no hope of getting a job with them after school. Then she would probably be stuck begging George for a job with them. That though made her shudder.

It was early in the morning, but she was too excited by the prospect of the potential job to get any sleep. She walked into the Great Hall to find it nearly empty. She had never been to breakfast that early. She settled down at the Gryffindor table near the main doors to wait for her friends, grabbing a roll and munching on it as she waited. She watched as people from all the different houses trickled into breakfast, lazily wiping the sleep from their eyes. Some said hello to her, others ignored her completely, and others still sent her secretive smiles, members of the DA who didn't want to draw attention to the fact that they were associating with people outside of their own house.

Angelina watched as a stunned Katie made her way through the main doors, spotting her and walking over. Numbly, she said down before turning to Angelina.

"What's wrong?" Angelina asked as she felt the pit of her stomach twist in the worst way.

"Have you talked to George?" she asked.

"No, why?" the panic in her body was slowly growing, filling ever inch of her with dread as she waited for Katie's explanation.

"I went to wake up Fred up this morning like usual and he wasn't in his bed. Neither was George. I don't know where he is. He doesn't go to Hogsmeade or anything anymore without letting me know. And he knows that I always come see him in the morning. I'm freaking out."

Angelina relaxed a little. "They were probably just out somewhere with late with Lee, drinking firewhiskey and trying to break him of his depression over his breakup."

A second later Lee came bursting through the doors and rushed over to Angelina and Katie. "Have you heard?" he asked them as he struggled to catch his breath.

"Heard what? Where are George and Fred?" Angelina asked, the panic rising again.

A solemn look passed over Lee's face as he looked back and forth between the two girls. "Their dad was attacked last night."

**So I feel kind of bad about the fact that Alicia has all but disappeared from the story. I just don't know where to take her storyline so if you have any ideas please please let me know. Again, reviews are always welcome and loved**


	15. Chapter 15 Outside Evils

**Hi everyone. I know this is a little short and it's been a while since I updated but I am going on a trip this weekend, so I wanted to get this up. I'm going to try to write more often, but it's really hard with school and everything. Please let me know what you think of the story. The more reviews I get the more motivation I will have for the next chapter. **

Angelina paced eagerly back and forth along Platform 9 ¾. Winter break had been more painful than she could possibly have imagined. The second she heard about Mr. Weasley she rushed to the Owlery to write to George. It was nearly a week before she heard from him.

_Hello love,_

_I know you are probably freaking out, and I don't blame you, but you don't have anything to worry about. My dad is alright. Well, he is still in at St. Mungo's, but he will be fine. We aren't staying at the Burrow. We are at the same place as over summer and no I won't tell you where it is. We aren't allowed to tell anyone to begin with, but even if we were allowed to I wouldn't want you to know. It might put you in danger. My mum says that we aren't to leave this building until it is time to go back to school (the incident is driving her mental) so I don't think I will be able to see you over the break. But I do promise to send letters as often as I can. I'm sorry. I love you._

_Love,_

_George_

He was true to his word. The entire break had passed and she hadn't seen his face once. She received plenty of letters telling her how much he missed her and how his dad was doing, but she needed to see him in the flesh after such a frightening event. She tried to act normal, knowing that glaring at the barrier would not make him appear any faster, but her attempts failed. Family after family was greeted onto the platform by her harsh stares, making them hurry their children away. The train was leaving to head back to Hogwarts in no more than 10 minutes when she saw a head of bright red hair push through the wall. She sprinted up to Ginny, pulling her into a tight hug, leaving the young girl slightly off balance and shocked by the greeting.

"Where is he?" she asked frantically as she watched redhead after redhead that wasn't hers come onto the platform.

"Don't worry," Ginny said with a laugh, "he will be through in a sec…"

Angelina had stopped listening as George finally came into view. She ran away from Ginny, who just shook her head and continued on. Angelina practically jumped on George. He took a moment to steady his cart before putting his arms around her, laughing quietly into her hair.

"Did you miss me?" he asked with amusement laced through his voice.

"Bugger off," she mumbled without letting go of him. After a few minutes she pulled back, though she didn't let go of him completely. "Where is Fred?" she asked.

"Oh, well it seems that Katie is even more impatient than you are. She waited on the other side of the barrier. Chances are he has her up against a wall making all the Muggles feel rather uncomfortable with their display."

"Only the ones that are uptight," Fred said, having made his way onto Platform 9 ¾ just in time to hear the end of George's speech. "But we figured we believe in the equality of Muggles and Wizards so we should make everyone feel equally uncomfortable." With that he pulled Katie into another long kiss. The group joked and laughed as they made their way to the compartment they had been using since first year. Lee and Alicia were already sitting inside, as well as a girl and boy they didn't know.

"Who are the newbies?" Fred asked as he plopped down next to Alicia, placing his feet in her lap and his head in Katie's.

"Well," Alicia said nervously, "This is my boyfriend."

Fred nearly choked on the butterbeer he was drinking, bolting upright as looking back and forth between Alicia and the stranger.

"Your _boyfriend_?" George asked, equally surprised as his brother. "We have not approved any boyfriend."

A mixture of humor and danger flashed through Alicia's eyes as she turned to face the brothers more. "And your 'approval' is not needed," she said, "which is exactly why I didn't tell you we had started seeing each other last semester."

"What the bloody hell?" Angelina nearly yelled. "You didn't even tell me and Katie?"

"Oh, sod off," Alicia said with a laugh. "I know you two aren't gossipy but you know just as well as I that you would not have been able to keep this from Fred and George."

"And Lee!" Fred said. "You didn't tell any of us!" The whole group looked over at Lee to see him with a slightly guilty expression on his face. "You knew?!"

"Well, yeah. She told me back in October but she asked me not to tell anyone. I was kind of helping her go around with him without you all noticing, which was actually pretty easy. Karin is friends with Ellie," he said gesturing to the forgotten girl and stumbling a bit over his words. "She is also Damon's twin sister."

"So what if she asked you not to tell," George said. "We are her best friends."

"Damon," Angelina could hear Fred barely grumbling before speaking to the intruder. "So who are you?"

"Well, you know my name is Damon. I'm a Hufflepuff in your year."

"Another one?" Angelina mumbled under her breath, causing George to let out the briefest of laughs which he tried to hide as a cough.

"Look, I know you lot don't do well with people coming in that aren't part of your group, but I like Alicia a lot, okay? So I won't bother you, just let me date her. If you all are constantly badgering her things won't work with us. Your opinions mean a lot to her," Damon said, looking over at Alicia and smiling with admiration in his eyes. Angelina was actually touched. It was obvious from the way he interacted with her that he worshipped everything about her.

"He seems alright to me," she said to George and Fred. The twins shared a silent conversation before they both moved to sit directly in front of him.

"Alright," Fred said. "You can date her with our blessing."

"But if you slip up," George said.

"Even one little time."

"You will wish you had never received a letter from Hogwarts."

Damon's smile at their approval quickly turned to a look of fear as he searched their faces for a sign of humor. Finding none, he turned to look at Alicia who was just shaking her head at the boys' antics.

"Now that you have scared the shit out of my boyfriend, can we move past all this?"

"And please don't kill my brother," Karin said, speaking for the first time. She batted her eyelashes at the twins and Angelina was left guess whether she was joking or actually trying to be cute.

The rest of the ride to Hogwarts was uneventful, filled with talk of the winter break and predictions of how the rest of their last year was going to go. It did not escape Angelina's attention that Fred and George were skirting a lot of the questions, giving generic answers instead of exact details about their weeks off. She was determined to find out those details. It hadn't bothered her too much when George wouldn't give her any information over the summer, but she had figured that now that they were actually together he would have to tell her these things. She was wrong. Once they were back and settled in she went up to his dorm to find him alone. She climbed into bed with him, cuddling up to his side and squeezing him tightly.

"Careful, love," he laughed. "You don't want to crush me."

"Sorry," she said sheepishly, "This break was just really scary. Not being able to see that you were alright was nerve racking."

"I hate to tell you this," he said solumly, giving her a kiss on the top of the head, "but things are not going to get any easier any time soon."

Angelina sighed a sad sigh, knowing deep down that his words were true. "Where were you?" she almost whispered.

"You know I can't tell you that," George said, his voice developing a tone of defensiveness.

"But why not? You know I am on your side so why should it matter?"

"There is an order, something neither you nor I know about. All I can tell you is that Dumblebore asked us not to tell ANYONE what we had seen over the summer and this break. I'm sorry."

"Then I'll go ask him myself," Angelina said determinedly.

"You don't get it, do you?" George nearly yelled, pulling away from her and turning to face her. "People are going to die. People that are involved in this are going to be the first to be targeted. Do you think that the Death Eaters would pass you by just because you only knew the information to make sure your boyfriend was alright? No! They would use you to get to me, use me to get to the rest of my family, and use my whole family to get to Harry. I'm not going to put you in that situation."

Angelina felt tears well up in her eyes. Without a word she pulled George back to her and slipped back into his side. "I'm sorry," she said quietly.

"I am too," he said, lifting her face a giving her a soft kiss. Angelina finally began to realize just how serious this war was going to be.

~*********~

The second semester seemed to flash past. Soon after they returned to school she received another letter from Wood saying that he was unable to make it to the game because of scheduling conflicts, but that he would love to stop by and watch a practice to give her some pointers. As much as she hated to admit it, she did need some help. She wrote him back inviting him to join whenever he wanted.

A few weeks later she still hadn't heard back from him. Her team was down on the pitch when she heard Alicia squeal and shoot off on her broom away from the pitch. She swooped down close to the ground before bouncing off, letting her broom fall to the ground and jumping into someone's arms. Angelina flew after her, screaming, "You can snog Damon later."

She could barely hear Alicia yell back, "It's not Damon you twit!"

It was then that Angelina realized that she recognized the figure. She flew quickly over to the spot to see Alicia still hugging Oliver tightly. They had been incredibly close while he was at school. When she felt like an outsider on the Quidditch team her took her under his wing, practically becoming her big brother. Oliver laughed as he squirmed his way out of Alicia death grip. "I missed you too, Alicia. But I am here on official business."

"_Official_ business?" Angelina asked. "I thought you were just stopping by to help me out with coaching."

"Technically yes. But George wrote to me that you might be interested in a job with Puddlemere after Hogwarts, so I figured I would come check everything out."

"Seriously?" Angelina asked, her excitement rising. "What sort of job are we talking about?"

"Well, to be honest, I won't be able to get you a coaching job right off the bat. You have to work your way up. But I may be able to get you a job as an analyst. You would watch the practices and games and talk to the coaches about what needs to be done to improve the team."

Angelina was in shock. Her job would be to watch Quidditch all day? She was determined to prove to Oliver that she would be able to handle it. She was actually surprised by how smoothly the practice ran, especially with the new team. That probably had something to do with Oliver's presence. Having a professional Quidditch player helping with the practice would certainly catch the players' attentions.

"This was really fun," Oliver said as Angelina walked with him back up to the castle. "You really have the respect of your team." Angelina tried not to laugh at that. Really the only people she had issues with were the beaters, but it was still a difficult team to manage. "So I will talk to my coach and see if there is anything I can do. I am not promising you the job, but I think you would be great for it and fit really well with the dynamic of our coaching staff."

"Sounds great," Angelina said, trying to keep the giddiness out of her voice. "Hope to hear from you soon."

The second Oliver was out of sight she started jumping up and down, waving her arms around in the air and squealing.

"I assume from this reaction that the practice with Oliver went well," George, who had just rounded the corner, said. Angelina practically skipped over to him, grabbing the front of his shirt and kissing him hard.

"Perfect! Did you know he is putting me up for a job as an analyst?"

"Yes, I heard," he said, laughing at her excitement.

"This day could not get any better!"

"I'm sure, but we are late for a DA meeting if you are up for it," he said, leaning in to speak quietly in her ear.

Angelina felt the now familiar shiver run down her body at the contact before nearly screaming, "Of course!" and pulling him towards the Room of Requirement.

Angelina was surprised to see two new faces at the D.A. meeting. Alicia was standing in the corner with Damon and Karin when they arrived. When she spotted them, she waved them over. Before they could reach them Karin came bounding over to them with a look of pure excitement on her face. "Hi guys!" she said enthusiastically. She pulled both of them into a quick hug, officially cementing Angelina's dislike of the girl. "This is going to be so great!" Angelina tried to smile, but was pretty sure it came out as a grimace. She glanced up at her boyfriend and saw he was trying his hardest to keep in laughter.

As they all walked up to Alicia and Damon Angelina sent her a look that asked how long they would have to hang out with Karin for. Her look back pleaded for Angelina to be at least nice to the girl. Once Harry had called for everyone's attention, everyone had begun to speak about who would be partners with whom. As everyone stood up to pair off Angelina heard Karin a few feet away.

"Well everyone is already paired up, so I guess I'm with Lee then?"

"Guess so," Alicia said through gritted teeth, trying her hardest to remain nice to her.

"Well that would be awkward, wouldn't it? I mean I'm friends with Ellie."

"Ellie's not here. It is kind of why we broke up," Lee said bitterly.

"Well I would feel bad anyways. Why don't you work with Angelina and I will work with George," she said, turning and smiling a bright smile at the couple. Angelina had her eyebrows raised and was ready to attack. George looked like a man desperately trying to keep a volcano from exploding. Luckily for him, he jumped in right before Angelina blew.

"How about I practice with Lee and you and Angelina practice with each other," he said quickly. He sent her a glance that said, _Sorry, it was this or me working with her_. With a little shrug in her direction he walked off with Lee.

"Let's get this over with," Angelina said as she stalked away from her new partner.

"Okay everyone," Harry called. "We are just getting back into everyone after the break so I just wanted to take a few minutes to do a few of the most basic defensive spells. Why don't you all begin with practicing _Expelliarmus_. "

Angelina turned to Karin to get started with a roll of her eyes. This girl was obviously a complete joke. She glanced over at where George and Lee were practicing, wishing that she could be working with them. As she was daydreaming, she suddenly felt her wand fly out of her hand and across the room to Karin's feet. Angelina looked up at Karin's face to see if set in a triumphant and aggressive look. It was the first time that she had let her fake façade slip. "Be careful, Angelina," she said in a threatening tone. "If you don't pay attention someone might just slip in and take what's yours." Angelina stood in shock and her fellow student sauntered over to her with a nasty smile plastered on her face. She let her eyes flicker over to George before locking them on Angelina again. "I'm talking about your wand, of course," she said as she placed the wand back in her hand and walked back to her spot across the room.

She had hardly turned back when she heard Angelina yell a disarming spell. It had been so strong it threw Karin off her feet and onto her back. Angelina walked quickly over to where she was laying with her wand beside her. As Karin made a move to grab her wand Angelina quickly put her foot on top of it, leaning down to Karin's level and whispering, "Don't threaten me. I'm not the type of person you want as an enemy."

Angelina stood to walk away and saw with pleasure that Karin looked slightly freaked, though mostly just angry that Angelina had gotten the better of her. Angelina turned from her and started walking away, hell bent on getting out of that room. She stormed past George, mumbling an "I'll tell you later." Right as she reached the door she was stopped by Katie. Everyone else seemed to have gone back to practicing.

"What was that about?" she asked.

Angelina turned and looked over her shoulder, seeing where Karin was sitting, hamming up her fall and with that fake smile back in place.

"Merlin, I hate that bitch," Angelina said before pulling the door open and heading to her dorm.

**So yeah. There is the new chapter. Please review. Let me know what you think about the character Karin. I just wanted to drag out of Hogwarts time a little more because it's the last time the four (meaning Fred, George, Angelina, and Katie) will really be together since they are in their last year and Katie still has another. So please tell me whether you think I should go ahead on to the out of Hogwarts stuff or give them a little more time and story at Hogwarts. I really appreciate reviews! **


	16. Chapter 16 Manipulation

**Hi everyone! So I got the next chapter up pretty quickly, which is surprising for me. I just finished a bunch of tests so I have a little more free time. Please review this chapter. I had some trouble writing it and want to know if it came off like I wanted it to. It is hard sometimes to tell if what I am writing will come off to the readers like I want it to since I have such a clear picture in my head of what is happening. So PLEASE review. Thanks to those of you who have been reviewing. I really like you guys :-)**

Angelina was astounded to see that Karin somehow weaseled her way into her group over the next few weeks. No one seemed to see what she saw. They all admitted she was slightly annoying, but that overall her attentions were good. Regardless, they were all going to be nice because she was Damon's sister and they had made a promise to Alicia. None of them seemed to think it was strange that Damon rarely spent time with them while they couldn't get rid of Karin when they were outside of Gryffindor tower.

She had tried to tell George about what she had done, but he just said she was reading into it all. "Come Ange," he said with a shake of his head, "I'm sure that wasn't what she meant."

"Then what did she mean?" Angelina asked, obviously miffed that he wasn't taking her side.

"It was probably her attempt at harmless trash talking. She can tell you hate her, so she was trying to make you think she is 'cool'. It is pretty clear that it had the opposite effect."

"Girls don't do that! Trash talking another girl to get them to like her?"

"Of course they do."

"Really? Do you know that from all that time you have spent as a girl?" Angelina asked sarcastically.

"Angelina," George said, putting a hand on each of her shoulders and looking deep into her eyes, "You have to chill out. You are being paranoid, and as cute as it is to see you jealous I don't want you to mess this up for Alicia okay?"

She could tell that she wasn't going to get anything else out of him. Instead she tried her attempt at Katie. "What the hell is wrong with that girl?" she asked when she finally got some time without Alicia around.

"I know, she is bloody annoying," Katie said distractedly as she looked over her potions essay.

"Besides that, she is an evil bitch!"

"And you don't think you are over-reacting a bit?" Katie said, finally putting down her work to look at her best friend questioningly.

"No! She practically told me that she was going to try and steal George away from me!"

"First of all, I still think you misunderstood. No one would have the balls to go up against you like that. Secondly, why worry about it? George is head over heels in love with you. Your relationship is completely secure."

"I get that," Angelina said with a sigh. "I just don't want her around. Plus, you should be worried too. She doesn't know George, so it isn't about his personality, if you get what I am saying."

Katie glanced at Angelina with a roll of her eyes. "So you are saying you think she will make a pass at Fred?" she said disbelievingly.

"Why not if she would make one at George?"

"Because I would kick her ass."

"Like I wouldn't? Like is haven't in a way already?"

Katie just laughed. Angelina's words seemed to have made her even less worried about Karin than she had been before. "Chill out, Angelina. She isn't a threat," Katie said as she went back to her school work. Angelina just sat in the 6th year's dorm room, pouting about the fact that her friends kept telling her to 'chill out.'

She wasn't prepared to let it drop. She decided to make one last try, this time with Alicia. "So, Alicia," Angelina said, trying to keep an air of causality in her voice, "how is everything going with Damon?"

"Pretty good," she said with a small smile. "He is really sweet to me. It's a lot better than, um, other times." She stumbled over her words at the end of her sentence.

Angelina thought back to a year before when Alicia had been heartbroken over the Ravenclaw beater, Daniel Weathers. Even more, she thought about her attempt to hide her excitement over the fact that he wanted her back at the beginning of the year. "What happened with Weathers?" Angelina asked timidly, not wanting to pull up harmful memories for her friend. Alicia visibly stiffened at the name before composing herself and looking up at Angelina.

"I don't know," she said quietly with a hint of desperation hidden in her voice. Angelina recognized the look of a person trying to get over someone by clinging to someone else. She wanted to mentally slap herself for being excited that Alicia didn't care too much about Damon.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Angelina asked.

"I don't know what to tell you. Do you remember the night I asked you about the first Hogsmeade trip before leaving to go for a walk?"

"Sure. That was the night Katie and Fred got together."

"Yeah. Well, I went to meet him and he never showed. I was waiting for him by the lake for nearly an hour when Damon came by. I had felt like such an idiot. Who waits for someone for an _hour? _Damon stopped to talk to me since we were the only two out there. We talked for a while before he asked me to go to the first Hogsmeade weekend with him. I said yes just because I was so mad at Daniel, but then he ended up being really sweet to me."

"And you never heard anything from Weathers?" Angelina asked, shocked that he would stand her up after the way he had acted when he approached her at the beginning of the year.

"Yeah, I did. He came to try to talk to me the next day after breakfast. He told me he had gotten distracted and lost track of time and he was so sorry. I was still pissed so I told him it didn't matter because I met someone else while I was waiting for his arse to show up. He didn't take that too well, as you probably imagine. He hasn't even looked at me since," she said quietly. Angelina could almost feel Alicia's heart breaking again just talking about it.

"Alicia," she said, moving to sit closer to her, "I am so sorry."

"What are you sorry for? It was all him. He had hurt me already. It was just a matter of time before he did it again. You didn't do anything," she said with a small smile.

"Exactly. I haven't been a good friend to you this past semester. Katie and I have been so caught up in our relationships that we didn't even notice you were hurting."

Alicia's smile grew a little as she spoke. Angelina could tell that that was something she needed to hear. "So how much do you hate Karin?" Alicia said knowing that she didn't need to talk anymore about the past.

"Honestly?" Angelina asked skeptically.

"Yeah, tell me."

"How about you tell me your opinion of her first."

"She is really nice to me, but I can see how she would drive you mental," Alicia said laughing.

"So you have never seen her do anything mean to anyone?"

"Of course not!" Alicia said. "She is the nicest person I have ever met. A bit too chipper, perhaps, but still sweet."

Angelina could tell that Alicia was definitely not going to agree with her opinion of her, so she threw that idea away and decided to deal with Karin on her own. "Yeah, she is bloody annoying, sorry Alicia."

"I figured as much. Just _try_ to be nice to her, okay?"

Angelina lied through her teeth as she agreed. Unfortunately, 'the annoyance' as Angelina was beginning to think of her was getting progressively worse. While at the start she would flirt mercilessly with both of the twins she was beginning to gravitate more to George. Angelina knew that she couldn't tell them apart, so the preference had to be a jibe at Angelina. She was constantly talking to him, asking him for help with school work and ideas for pranks. He ate it all up, coming up with elaborate pranks for her to pull which she never went through. His attention span was too short to realize she hadn't actually done anything. Karin never missed a chance to smirk at Angelina whenever she was talking with George.

"So," Fred said one day at breakfast in early February, "are we going to be the ones to plan the annual seventh year Valentine's Day blow out?"

"What is that?" Karin asked, batting her eyelashes.

"You never heard of the seventh year Valentine's Day party?!" Lee asked, stunned that she hadn't.

"Should I have?" she asked, biting her lip and adopting a look of innocent mock worry.

"YES!" all three boys yelled at the same time, making those around them look towards them in alarm.

"It's the biggest party at Hogwarts every year," Fred said.

"It is always secret," George said.

"Then how does anyone know?" Karin asked.

"Because the seventh years are supposed to tell all the sixth years in their house the day they graduate," Lee said. "Did the Hufflepuff seventh years not tell you all last year?"

"I guess not," Karin said, trying to think back to when they would have told her.

"In that case, it is officially your job to spread the word to everyone in Hufflepuff. But remember, no 6th years are allowed to know," Alicia said sternly.

"You should probably go tell them now," Angelina said. "They probably miss hanging out with you since you are always with us." George nudged her and sent a warning glance, but Karin did not even acknowledge that Angelina spoke.

"Um, isn't Katie a 6th year?" Karin asked.

"Well, technically yes, but she is an honorary seventh year," Fred said with a smile at his girlfriend.

"Look Fred," Karin said, "I know you and Katie are together and everything, but do you really want to break such an old and strong tradition just so you can have your girlfriend with you?" Her tone was so innocent, but it was so obviously calculating to Angelina. From the look on Katie's face it seemed that she finally heard it too.

"You didn't even know about it until 5 minutes ago," Katie said, outraged that someone was going to keep her from such a huge tradition with her boyfriend and best friends.

"Oh, I didn't mean to upset you," Karin said sweetly. "I could just tell what a big deal it is to Fred, George, and Lee so I thought that I should point that out. I'm sorry."

Katie wasn't fooled. She glared at Karin as everyone continued to eat their breakfasts. Angelina finally caught her eye, sharing a look with her that screamed I told you so.

"She does kind of have a point, Katie," Fred said with a shrug. "This is kind of a last year of school thing. What are you going to have to look forward to next year?"

"Getting the hell out of here so I can be with you guys again," she said angrily.

"Don't freak out on me, okay?" Fred said.

"I'm not freaking out on you! You are going to go to the secret Valentine's Day party that I KNOW ABOUT without me?" she said, lowering her voice just when saying 'secret Valentine's Day party'.

"What do you want me to do?" Fred yelled. "It's a tradition."

"What the bloody hell do you care about tradition?!"

The rest of the group stood and began to back away from the fighting couple slowly. Katie and Fred were both known to have brutal tempers, so their fights were always terrible. They didn't happen often, but when they did they were massive. Even outside of the Great Hall they were able to hear them screaming.

Later that day Katie came storming down the grounds to the pitch for practice, muttering the entire way about her prat of a boyfriend. She nearly smashed into Angelina, who was outside looking at the weather while her team was getting ready to work. "You should be happy Fred and George got kicked off the Quidditch team. If that little git was here right now I would grab his bat and beat _him_ with it," she said before storming into the changing room.

Back in the changing room Katie was continuing to complain under her breath. Alicia walked over to Angelina, her eyebrows raised and eyes wide, trying to hide her laughter from Katie. "She's so pissed," Alicia said.

"Yeah, I know," Angelina said with a roll of her eyes. "I don't know why. She is obviously going to go."

"I don't know," Alicia said. "Karin kind of had a point. We didn't even know that the party existed until we were about to be seventh years. Maybe it should just be seventh years."

"You have got to be kidding me," Angelina said, shaking her head. "We aren't saying let in every sixth year. Katie isn't going to say anything to anyone. Plus, she already knows so what difference does it make?"

Alicia just shrugged and followed her teammates out of the locker room, leaving just Angelina and Katie inside.

"You alright?" Angelina asked.

"No, I'm not bloody alright!" Katie said. "That bitch is so fucking manipulating!"

"I know," Angelina said. "I think she might be getting into Alicia's head too."

"How can she not see it?"

"Well you didn't see it until about 7 hours ago," Angelina said with a shrug.

"You're right. I'm an idiot."

"You aren't an idiot," Angelina said, laughing. "She is sneaky. I don't know how she does it."

"So what are we going to do about her?" Katie asked.

"What do you mean 'do about her'?" Angelina asked looking at her friend nervously.

"Come on. Don't pretend like you don't have a plan to get rid of her."

Angelina conceded with a sigh. "Okay, I have been trying to think of something but I haven't been able to find any holes yet. She is too much on her guard with me. I was just kind of waiting until she said something bitchy in front of everyone and then I was going to call her out on it."

"Do you realize how much that plan sucks?"

"Fine, you try to come up with something. In the mean time I have a team to coach."

Katie was unable to come up with anything better. She did, however, begin to speak to Karin a lot more often; sending Angelina secretive glances if she thought she had anything.

"So do we have the plans down exactly then, George?" Karin asked one day as they were all walking through the halls. She moved over next to him, gently placing her hand on his arm to get a better look at the paper.

"I think so," he said with a smile, completely oblivious to her attempts. "We are going to use the Room of Requirement, obvious, because there is enough room and Umbridge can't get in. We are split up into groups so that everyone isn't coming at the same time. For it to work everyone has to come at their specified time. The Gryffindors will obviously go first since we are planning it. We need to be there at 8. Then the Ravenclaws will come at 8:30, followed by the Slytherins at 9, and the Hufflepuffs at 9:30."

"Why do we have to go last?" Karin said, arranging her features into a seductive pout.

"The order is already set and told to everyone. Sorry, love," George told her. Angelina froze. He should not be calling Karin love. He called her love. It wasn't like it was her special nickname or anything but it still shouldn't be used for _the annoyance_. He just continued on like nothing had happened. "Fred and I will get the beverages. Butterbeer and firewhiskey of course. Lee will be in charge of music, as always. There isn't anything we are forgetting, is there?"

"Nope," Fred said.

"Great, then everything is set for tomorrow night," Karin said with a smile. "I need to go finish some homework if I want to go tomorrow, but I will see you tomorrow at 9:30." She said it as though she was talking to everyone, but specifically nudged George a bit before walking away. He looked up from his paper, his face showing his confusion over the gesture. He glanced over at Angelina to see her giving him a hard stare.

"Did you see that?" George asked her quietly.

"Of course I saw it," she said angrily. "It is the same sort of thing she has been doing for nearly two months."

"Maybe it was an accident."

"IT WAS NOT A BLOODY ACCIDENT!" she screamed, pulling the attention of the rest of the group to them.

"What wasn't an accident?" Alicia asked worriedly.

"Nothing," Angelina said hurriedly. "I just need to talk to George alone for a second," she said as she pulled him into a nearby empty classroom. Having pushing him inside she turned to look at him. "Do you honestly believe it was an accident, or do you really just love all the attention she lavishes on you?"

"What are you talking about?" he asked, annoyed by her reaction.

"Since the day on the train she has been flirting with you."

"No she hasn't."

"Are you really that dense? Because I felt like you knew that I was interested in you before you did anything."

"Yeah, you were interested in me and I was single. I'm not anymore."

"That doesn't stop some girls," Angelina said, crossing her arms across her chest and staring him down.

"And you think that Karin is one of those girls?" he asked disbelievingly.

"No, I know that Karin is one of those girls. Talk to Katie and she will tell you the same thing. She wants to win herself a Weasley twin, though I think she would prefer you because she hates me more than Katie."

"Win a Weasley twin?" George asked. "That is ridiculous!"

"Really? I promise you that if she thought she could steal you away she would make a move on you right now."

"I don't want to hear this. Karin is a sweet girl who hasn't done anything to you but actually be happy. You are not a bitchy, paranoid girl so stop acting like one."

Angelina felt defeated. He didn't seem like he was even listening to her reasoning. "Why don't you believe me?" she asked, her voice cracking a little as she tried to hold back tears.

George looked like he wanted to comfort her, but something was holding him back. "Because it makes no sense at all."

"And you think I am the type of girl who would make something like that up?"

"I don't know what you would do," George said.

If it was possible, Angelina's heart plummeted even further into her chest. "In that case I'll give you some time to figure it out," she said as tears began to escape her eyes. She turned to escape the room, hearing him say her name as she let the door swing shut behind her.

She walked as quickly as she could back to Gryffindor tower, hiding her face from those she passed and rushing up to Katie's room. She knew Alicia would be in hers and she didn't know how to explain the situation. "What happened?" Katie asked frantically as she rushed over to her friend. Angelina explained everything, telling her how her boyfriend and best friend of almost seven years didn't trust her anymore. "It isn't you," Katie tried to explain to her. "It's all Karin. She has worked her way into everyone's minds and turned it all upside down."

"Well what am I supposed to do?" Angelina asked desperately. Both girls sat in silence for a few moments before Katie made Angelina look up at her.

"I hate to tell you this, but you are going to have to become her friend."

**There we go. Again, a really hard chapter for me to write and I don't love it, but I am just trying to get the story together more. Please review. Thanks :-)**


	17. Chapter 17 My funny Valentine

**Hello my long lost friends. I hope you all don't hate me but my classes got so crazy this semester so since I wasn't getting too much feedback I ended up taking a bit (alright a lot) of time off to get my school work done. If I don't update crazy fast it is because my finals are still killing me, but I got a stroke of inspiration today so I figured I should go ahead and write it while I am on Thanksgiving break. Please let me know what you think after such a long absense. I really miss hearing from you guys.**

**So just a reminder as to what is happening since you probably haven't read this fic in months...**

**Fred and Katie are together as are Angelina and George**

**Alicia has been dating Damon (a Hufflepuff) whos twin sister has worked her way into the group**

**Karin (the twin) is pure evil**

**Last chapter ended with George and Angelina fighting over how Karin keeps hitting on George and he is ****oblivious at which point Katie told her she would have to 'become her friend'. Ew...**

Angelina walked begrudgingly towards where Karin and Alicia were sitting in the Great Hall. She observed their hunched body positions, with the heads bowed closely together, and quickly realized they had to be gossiping. Both sets of eyes darted back and forth across the room before landing on a poor fifth year Hufflepuff who was sitting by herself at the edge of the table with puffy eyes. After a second of staring, Karin and Alicia looked back at each other for a second and busted out laughing.

"Do I really have to go now?" Angelina asked Katie with a grimance.

"Yes. Sorry, Angelina, but the party is tonight and the longer you wait to start being nice to her the worse it is going to get."

"But they are _gossiping_," she said while scrunching up her nose. "Since when does Alicia like to sit around and gossip about people? That poor girl they are laughing at looks miserable."

"I think Alicia has always kind of had a little bit of that in her. We just helped knock it out. Now that bitch is putting it right back in. But we need to put those feelings about her aside for now, alright?"

"Fine," Angelina muttered and trudged the rest of the way across the dining hall. "Hey guys," she said with a fake smile as she sat down with them. "What are we talking about?"

"Just that freak over there," Karin said with malice.

"What's wrong with her?" Angelina asked, feeling pity for the girl who was so obviously upset.

"She sleeping with Charlie Camden and thought that they were 'together' only to find him in a broom cupboard with someone else," Karin said as she started laughing again.

Angelina looked over at her again and saw the girl slowly lift her bloodshot eyes to meet hers. Angelina's own heart broke as she saw the emotions emanating from them. She saw the hurt, the betrayal and anger. But more than anything she saw the desperation. The hope that maybe she was wrong. Maybe he would realize _he_ was wrong. The same look Angelina had had the day before when begging George to believe her.

"Poor girl," Angelina almost whispered without looking away from her.

"Poor girl?" Karin asked, appalled that that was the response she received. "First of all, look at her. Do you really think she could ever get a guy like Charlie Camden?" Alicia scoffed and Katie rolled her eyes, more at the two of them than anything else. "He was obviously just using her for sex. And I'm sorry, but I will never feel pity for someone who is clinging on to someone even though they _obviously_ don't deserve them." she finished with a pointed look at Angelina.

At that point Angelina realized she was going to have to swallow her pride. With one last sad glance back at the girl she turned to the rest of the group. "You are right," Angelina said to Karin, which took her completely by surprise. "I don't know why she would have thought they were actually together."

Karin sent her a suspicious glance before continuing to rip on the heartbroken girl crying by herself. The conversation continued this way until the boys showed up, at which point she turned into the sweet girl they had seen during the past few months. George slide into his normal place beside Angelina, but did not toss his arm around her shoulder like he always did. Angelina felt naked at being left without the protection of his arm, but also knew she wouldn't have let him put his arm around her even if he had tried.

They all stood up and began to leave before classes were to start. Seeing the opportunity, Angelina slid over next to Karin. "Hey, can I talk to you for a second?" she asked her quietly. Karin raised an eyebrow menacingly before nodding slightly and turning to leave the Great Hall. "I'll see you in class," she said to the rest of the group before following after Karin.

The two reached a hallway where no one seemed to be before Karin stopped and turned to face Angelina. "You wanted to talk." She said it as a statement, not a question.

"Um, yeah. So I was thinking about how our relationship has been since you started hanging out with us. I think we can both agree it hasn't been too healthy," at which point Karin snorted a laugh, "I don't want to fight with you anymore."

"Really?" Karin asked, slightly taken aback. "I have been horrible to you. You do realize that, right?

"Well it is a little hard to miss," Angelina said, letting her true feelings slip for a second before rearranging her features into an exhausted expression. "It just takes so much energy to hate you. And to be honest, I think we could be friends if you weren't always hitting on my boyfriend."

"Yeah, most of that is just to piss you off anyways," she said nonchalantly.

"So can we just stop all of this?"

"Hah, yeah I guess so."

"Thank Merlin. Because I really didn't want to have to hex you into St. Mungo's," Angelina said, relishing for a moment in the idea of putting Karin in the hospital. "So are you coming to get ready with us for the party tonight?"

"Oh, yeah. I'll be there. But can you please make sure that it is just you, me, and Alicia? I really can't stand any of the other girls in our year. Do you realize how absolutely pathetic they all are?"

Angelina clinched her fists slightly before responding. "Oh, I totally agree," she lied through her teeth. "But it will be four since Katie is going to be there."

"Angelina," Karin said sweetly, "you know Katie can't come tonight. It wouldn't be fair to all the seventh years. This is our tradition. It will be hers next year."

"Yeah, I know," Angelina sighed. "She knows it too. She is just going to come help us get ready. It sucks that she can't come, though."

"I agree," Karin lied. "But it is for the best."

The two turned the corner and nearly ran into a tall body topped with a mess of red hair. The way his body stiffened upon seeing her Angelina knew instantly that it was George.

"Hi there," Karin said, standing on her tip toes to give him a kiss on the cheek. Angelina tried desperately to hide her anger.

"Hey Karin," he said with a huge smile. "I see you two are getting along pretty well. Was that a civil conversation I heard coming for the hallway?"

"Of course it was civil!" Karin said with innocent eyes.

"Do you mind if I talk with Ange for a minute?" George asked Karin. She simply smiled slightly and nodded before walking away. "Look at you getting on well with Karin." He slipped her arms around Angelina who had turned her back to him as Karin had left them alone. He felt her tense up as he pulled her to him. "Are you still mad at me?"

"Do you still not believe me?"

"You have got to be fucking kidding me! You were just chatting with her like best friends but I still can't be friends with her? You are a bloody hypocrite, do you know that?"

"I don't care. This isn't about her. It about you not believing me after everything we have been through!"

"But you were wrong!"

"Was I? 'Hi there'" she said with mock sweetness before exaggeratedly leaning up to kiss him on the cheek.

"If you think that she is after me than why the hell are you being so nice to her?"

"Because I am tired of being the bitch, okay?" she cried, frustrated by the whole situation. "I don't know why none of you can see that she is completely evil but I'm done trying to prove it. It will come out eventually anyways." She pushed him away from her and began to storm off.

"Where does that leave us?" he asked quietly, so quietly she almost didn't hear him.

"Look," she said, turning back to him but keeping a safe distance. "I have loved you for almost seven years. I don't want to lose you, but right now I just need to be mad. I don't want you to just stay with me because we were always 'supposed' to be together. If you don't trust me I think you need to take the time to reevaluate our relationship."

"I love you," he said desperately trying to catch her eye.

"I love you too, but I don't know what sort of relationship we can have if this continues," she said before turning abruptly and walking away.

~*********~

It was 6:30 and the four girls had just congregated in a deserted classroom that Alicia had somehow transformed into the mini beauty salon. Each of the three seventh years had their own little station where they could get ready. Angelina sat in front of her own mirror, trying to tug the ever constant knots out of her hair. She glanced up at her hanger rod, looking over her outfit for what seemed like the hundredth time. Knowing that things were not great with George made her self-conscious about every move she made. She was planning on wearing a deep green sundress, something from Katie's closet. The neckline swooped down from the two thicker straps to emphasize her chest. The dress itself was very classic, like something you would see in the old muggle films from the 50s where a woman would run off to some foreign country. Angelina was surprised she had even found it in Katie's closet seeing as she typically went for more modern and out-there outfits.

She finished brushing out her hair and went to standing behind Karin. "Do you want me to brush out your hair?" Angelina asked. "I'm done brushing out mine and Merlin knows there is nothing else I can do. I am helpless without Alicia."

"Yeah, sure," Karin said, happy to have someone pampering her.

"Great," Angelina said with a smile as she pulled her own hair from the brush before using it on Karin. She began to gently slide the brush through Karin's dark brown hair. She had never noticed before how thick and beautiful it was, with tinges of red. Angelina couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy. She finished brushing her hair and turned to return to her own station, quietly passing her brush off to Katie.

"Okay, so I think I should do your make-up first, Angelina," Alicia said excitedly as she moved over to her. "I am thinking natural, but with startling eye make-up. You have a great eye color, but you need to use the right colored eye shadows and liner to bring it out." Angelina laughed slightly at how easily Alicia could get excited over make-up. Before becoming close with Karin it was the only stereotypical 'girly' thing she got excited over. It made her think back to when the three of them had all gotten ready for the Yule Ball together the year before. It was strange how in a year things could have worked themselves out so well only to become so thoroughly screwed up again. She watched as Alicia arranged a light cream colored and deep purple eye shadow next to each other, placing a forest green eyeliner next to them on the table and set to work. It took her no more than 10 minutes before transforming Angelina's normally make-up free face into the perfect blend of deep and natural colors. Angelina looked in the mirror, realizing that her eyes were back to the bright hazel they had seemed to be at the Yule Ball.

"You are bloody amazing Alicia," Angelina said with a smile.

"It comes from 6 years of an overbearing mother," she said with a laugh. "Now for the hair. I am thinking a high, elegant ponytail. Your hair is so perfectly smooth and I think it will look great with this dress. It will emphasize the simple beauty of the dress and your incredible cheekbones."

"Whatever you say," Angelina said, laughing at how Alicia explained every detail even though she knew that Angelina didn't understand or care about any of it.

Once she finished with Angelina's hair she turned her attention to Karin, who had already began to arrange her voluptuous dark hair into large, flowing waves worthy of a muggle film premier. The dress that Karin chose was a deep shade of red. It was a halter top that was meant to look as slutty as possible without making everyone in the room talk badly about you. Alicia had to spend much more time on her make-up, opting for a more seductive style of eye make-up that made it look as though he dark brown eyes were smoldering.

Alicia was the picture of classiness. Her dress was made of bright yellow fabric. The neckline was a teardrop shape while the straps came up diagonally and crossed in the back. After the fitted top area, her dress spread out around her, making her look like a princess. Her green eyes shined with excitement as she swept part of her slightly curled hair back with a pin as her bangs fell forward, completing the image. Angelina thought that she would be the first to admit that Alicia was by far the most beautiful one in the group as they prepared to head back to the dorms to meet up with the boys.

"Can't I just come with you guys at 8?" Karin asked one last time as they reached the splitting point.

"Come on, Karin," Angelina said patiently. "It has to be set up that way. Just think what would happen if everyone just showed up at the same time? We are still going to have so much time. I promise."

"Fine," she said as she sulked. "I will see you at 9:30 then."

By the time they reached the common room the rest of the seventh years were anxiously awaiting their return. Everyone was stunned by the girls when they entered. Everyone, even Fred, was blatantly staring at Alicia, which earned him a smack upside the head from Katie. But Angelina didn't notice anything except the look George was giving her at that exact moment. His eyes were shining as they roamed her entire form. Without breaking eye contact he walked up to her, leaning down and planting a soft kiss on her lips.

"You are the most beautiful girl I have ever seen," he said quietly. Angelina smiled as she intertwined their fingers and left for the party. She could hear Katie hollering at Fred as they all left.

"If you do anything stupid you are dead, you get it?" Angelina looked over her shoulder to see Fred swing her around and dip her before kissing her hard.

"Why would I do anything stupid? I have the perfect girlfriend already," he said with a smirk before righting her and running off after the other seventh years. "Love you, Katie. See you later on."

They entered the Room of Requirement of find Lee already there behind the DJ booth and the room completely decorated courtesy of the Weasley twins. The walls of the room were entirely covered in black cloth with painted little cupids flying hurriedly back and forth as hearts and roses spilled down the sides. The entire ceiling was sprinkled with hearts, making it seem as though they were standing under a heart filled sky instead of one made up of stars. There were several tables scattered on one side of the room while the other side was left open for dancing.

"Okay, fellow seventh year Gryffindors," Fred bellowed out, calling everyone's attention to where he was standing with George who had just then left Angelina's side. "As the wonderful hosts of this party it is our duty,"

"And pleasure," George interrupted with a smile.

"to put on the best bloody Valentine's Day party anyone has ever seen."

"Therefore, we need to each to finish up the little tasks you were each assigned."

"You know what you need to do."

"So go do it."

Once they finished each person ran off to take care of their own responsibilities. Some began placing finger foods on the tables while others cover the back table with bottle after bottle of alcoholic beverage. They seemed to have just finished placing everything in order when the door opened and the first set of Ravenclaws entered the room.

Each person that entered was immediately struck by the extravagance of it all. The tables seemed to be glowing with a pale pink light underneath it. They all laughed and chatted as they worked their way over to the food and drinks. Angelina was talking with Alicia, her back to the door, when Alicia visibly stiffened, her line of sight locked onto something unknown to Angelina. She turned to see Daniel Weathers standing in the doorway, looking as attractive as ever, staring unyieldingly at Alicia. People entered behind him, pushing him forward into the room. Though he stumbled his eyes never left Alicia.

"You alright?" Angelina asked quietly. Alicia did nothing but nod numbly, keeping her gaze locked on Daniel. After nearly a minute Daniel seemed to break out of the daze and made his way over to Alicia.

"Hey," he nearly whispered.

"Hi."

"You look…amazing." His eyes were filled with both adoration and a little of what seemed to be pain.

"Thanks," she said, averting her eyes from him for the first time since he entered the room.

"I've really missed you," he said, placing a hand lightly on her cheek.

"You can't do that," she said, gaining a little confidence.

"Do what?" he asked innocently.

"Come in here and be all 'I've missed you'. I have a boyfriend now. Someone who doesn't stand me up."

"Alicia, you don't understand what happened that night."

"And you never took the time to explain it did you?"

"Because you told me you were already dating some other bloke."

Alicia stumbled at this, realizing she really hadn't given him any chance to explain what had happened. "Regardless, I am with Damon now."

"He's in Hufflepuff, right?"

"Yeah he is. Why?" Alicia asked suspiciously.

He smiled his breathtaking smile and placed one of his hands lightly on her hip, leaning down to speak quietly in her ear. "Because that means I still have a full hour to prove I am the one for you before the wanker shows up." He straightened up and, with a wink, headed off to the drink table.

As Alicia was still attempting to regain her composure the doors opened, causing everyone to jump as the Slytherins were not expected to show up for another fifteen minutes. They all turned to see Karin enter the room.

"Karin what are you doing here already? You guys aren't supposed to come for another hour!" Angelina said.

"Well I figured it wouldn't hurt for me to show up a little early. Plus, I helped plan it too," she said biting her lip slightly and pouting at the twins.

"She does kind of have a point there," George said to Angelina, breaking the little spell they had both been under since she had entered the common room. She just simply glared at him before turning her attention to Alicia, who was frantically glancing back and forth between Karin and Daniel, who was watching her worriedly from the corner of the room.

"I'll distract Karin," Angelina whispered to Alicia with a glance over at Karin who was shamelessly flirting with the twins. "You go and talk to him." Alicia smiled gratefully at her before walking briskly across the room to where he was standing.

"Hey Karin!" Angelina said, breaking the girls focused flirting. "Let's go dance!"

"Alright, George, do you want to dance?" Karin asked.

"Um, I think I'll dance with me girlfriend if you don't mind."

"Oh, of course! I just thought it would be fun to dance with such a good friend," she said with an innocent smile. "What about you Fred?"

Fred hesitated for a moment before agreeing. "After all, Katie didn't say I wasn't allowed to dance with anyone. Plus, it is with Karin so we know it is innocent," he told George and Angelina as Karin ran to put down her things. George and Angelina blatantly avoided each other's eyes at that comment, trying desperately to keep another fight from brewing.

The four of them continued to dance around the floor as the hour dragged on, welcoming the Slytherins and a few early Hufflepuffs to the party. After nearly an hour of dancing all four of them were in desperate need of some hydration. They worked their way over to the main table, pouring themselves each a firewhiskey and choosing to ignore the fact that firewhiskey was actually not going to hydrate them. As they were standing near the entrance the remainder of the Hufflepuff girls walked into the room, including Ellie, who quickly averted her eyes away from Lee, and Karin.

Both groups stopped quickly as they realized they were standing in between two Karins. The girls were identical right down to the outfit, hair, and perfect make-up that Alicia had spent so much time on.

"What the bloody hell is going on?" The new Karin asked as she stepped around her friends to stand closer to the 'other' Karin.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me. Polyjuice potion? Really?" the first Karin said.

"What do you mean?" the second Karin asked.

"Well it is obvious that this is your attempt to get into the party by using polyjuice potion to make yourself look like me!"

"Merlin," the second Karin said as the rest of the people simply stood staring back and forth between the two, not quite knowing what to do. "Is that you Katie?"

"No it is not me! Crap, I mean no I am not Katie. You are!"

The second Karin turned and looked back at the other Hufflepuff girls. "Um, didn't I come with you guys from the dorm? And I was the one who said the password when we all walked up when Sam forgot her purse. It is kind of obvious that I not the crazy one here," she said shooting a pointed look at the first Karin.

"Look, Katie," Fred said, bending his head to speak quietly to the first Karin. "I know you really wanted to come to this but you will have it next year. Plus I promise to make it up to you tonight." He smiled suggestively at her before shaking his head quickly, freaked out by saying that to someone who didn't at least look at Katie regardless of whether or not she actually was.

"But I am the real Karin!"

Angelina stepped up and placed her hand on her shoulder. "Come on, Katie. We have worked really hard on all of this and you don't want a whole huge scene. I promise to fill you in on every detail."

"You have to be kidding!"

"God, Katie just go back to the dorm! This party is that big of a deal and otherwise there is just going to be a ton of fighting all night."

"Fine. Screw you all," she said angrily before her expression changed slightly. She glared at the other Karin before turning to Fred. "Can I at least have a kiss goodnight?"

"Sorry love. Way too weird. It would feel like I was cheating on you. You know that I love you too much for that." He then leaned down closer so only the closest people could hear. "Plus I have no desire what so ever to put my lips on Karin's so we will just leave it at that."

Angelina almost laughed as she saw her face boil with anger before she stormed out of the room. Fred blatantly watched her backside as she rushed from the room, undoubtedly comparing the two. As she stormed from the room she hit Damon who glanced up at who he had collided with to see his sister.

"Hey Karin. Where are you going?" She just groaned and continued walking past. When Damon's eyes fell on the other Karin he looked in shock. "You know what? I don't even want to know. I'm sure you or she or whatever will come complaining about it in a few hours anyways. Has anyone seen Alicia? I can't seem to find her." Angelina avoided his eyes as she glanced around the room, agreeing with everyone that she did not know where she was.

"So should we get this party started for real now that all the seventh years are here?" Fred asked loudly, to which everyone cheered.

The new Karin walked up to Fred, putting a hand on his shoulder and asking him to dance. He agreed with a shrug. He had after all in a way been dancing with her for the past hour. As they walked towards the dance floor she tugged on his arm and Angelina saw her slip her wand to poke him in the ribs.

"Oh, and if I ever see you staring at her arse again," she said gesturing to her own behind, "I will castrate you in a second. I don't care how often we have talked about kids."

Fred's eye lit up with humor as he took in her words and looked at the wand he had so often received curses from during their fights. "You really are a manipulative little sneak, aren't you?"

"I learned from the best," Katie said as she slipped her arm through his and walked off to the dance floor.

"Merlin, I love you," he said admiringly.

"Yeah, I know."

**So what did you all think? If I get a lot of reviews I might keep working on this even though I should be studying and writing term papers. I really enjoyed writing this chapter, though I also feel like it was a little rushed since I wanted so badly to post it for you guys. The next chapter will have to have quite a bit to discuss. George and Angelina still have not resolved their major issue. And where exactly is Alicia? All that and more to come in the next chapter of Say It Now!**


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